So, having been told, in court,  by Alan White, Deputy Director DPP, as it then was, of the bombing, I made my way to the RVH. My Dad was dead and it was a question of finding my Mum and ascertaining her condition. There was confusion as to where she was but I found her eventually. She was under the care of Dr Coppell [a ex BRA boy ] and his excellent team. I was then taken from the RVH to the morgue , under the care of Gerry Sillery an old Forth River class mate and sub divisional commander for B division. I identified my Dad, having been warned not to touch him, for forensic reasons.

I returned to the RVH and to my terminally ill mother.

In the middle of the night I was sitting in a quiet area of the RVH, trying to gather my thoughts. A figure in a track suit approached. It was Denis Maloney, solicitor. He had been trying to find me. That gesture was immensely comforting. He had lost his parents in the British Midland crash the previous year. His parents’ grave is not far from my parents. Today, as usual, I left two red roses on my parents’ grave , then visited the Maloney grave.

So ended 6th June 1990.

I’m not by any means a special case but I hope that by publishing this discourse I will draw attention to the horrors which people suffered in these cases.

It is striking to me how many people came to my aid and probably how few ever thought that the state was complicit.

I have spoken to a number of ex RUC officers over the last year and every one has disappeared. I wonder why?

I notice also that there is a RUC GC service in St Marks in Newtownards tomorrow. I wonder why I don’t get an  invite?