Son recalls 'cherished memories' on 50th anniversary of murders

A man whose father was killed in a gun and bomb attack at a bar in south Armagh 50 years ago has called for "acknowledgement" of what happened.

Trevor Brecknell, 32, Patsy Donnelly, 24, and Michael Donnelly, 14, were killed in the attack at Donnelly's Bar in Silverbridge in December 1975.

It is believed they were killed by the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) unit known as the Glenanne gang. Nobody has been prosecuted for the murders.

Alan Brecknell said: "Unfortunately anything to do with legacy here seems to take forever and there are always obstacles in the way."

Mr Brecknell was seven when his father was killed. His brother Mark was six and his sister Roisin was just two days old.

Mr Brecknell told BBC News NI that his father was "always someone who was there," adding: "He was a family man."

"Those memories always are cherished and the things that Roisin often laments is that we have those memories and that she doesn't."

Their father was born in Birmingham and moved to Belfast in the 1960s, then moved to south Armagh where he got involved in the youth club and played darts at the local pub.

Mr Brecknell remembers what it was like for his mother after losing her husband.

"Mummy had three young children to bring up and she also had to look after her sister and brother-in-law who were injured in the attack, so our life was based around surviving," he said.

"While daddy was always talked about in the family home, mummy always talked about him, there wasn't much discussion about what truth or justice or anything like that would have looked like.

"It's only with the advent of the peace process and, my then three year-old son asking why he didn't have a grandfather, that we started to ask some questions about what had actually happened."

Mr Brecknell believes that justice means "different things to so many different people".

"From a personal point of view I'm happy where we're at now," he said.

"Fifty years ago we were in a different place to where we are now," he added.

"Would I want to see an 80-year-old man or woman in the dock at this stage? I probably wouldn't.

"They're probably going to be taken from their family and their grandchildren and maybe great grandchildren. You know, does that do me any good or does that do society any good?

"People will disagree with me on that, but that's how I feel about it."

Mr Brecknell hopes that there will be movement on a civil case around the killings and he is currently in the process of trying to get it listed in the court system.

"The thing about taking cases through the civil courts, I suppose, it's about acknowledgement more than anything. It's about saying that this actually happened to people.

"There was obviously the injustice around the death or injury but that was compounded by a lack of legal justice where you have people going through the courts," he said.

He said legacy cases "take forever," mentioning the Reavey and Farmer families, who are to receive costs from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the police over delays to two civil cases before the High Court in Belfast. They were also killed by loyalist paramilitaries from the so-called Glenanne gang.

"I think there is an understanding now within the courts that this is something that needs to be dealt with.

"The difficulty is that other institutions of the state haven't come to the same place as yet, but I think in the future that will come," he said.

"I think that's a shame that that's a route that people are forced to take, but it seems to be the only route that the state and state agencies seem to understand at this stage unfortunately."

A candlelit vigil to mark the 50th anniversary of the bombing will take place on Friday at 20:00 GMT outside Donnelly's Bar.

It is also the 50th anniversary of the Dundalk bombing where two men were killed when a bomb exploded outside Kay's Tavern in the centre of the County Louth town.

A minute's silence will be held at the same time the bomb went of at 18:20 local time.

Two men, 60-year-old Hugh Watters and 62-year-old Jack Rooney, were killed, with many more injured.

The minister for Foreign Affairs in the Republic of Ireland said: "It remains deeply regrettable that no one has been held responsible for the attacks, on either side of the border, to date."

Helen McEntee added that: "Families have waited too long for answers."

The Glenanne gang were members of the loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).

The gang was based at a farm in Glenanne, County Armagh, in the 1970s, and allegedly contained members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).

The gang's members are believed to have been responsible for up to 120 murders in nearly 90 attacks in the Troubles.