Family hope Belturbet bomb documentary will ‘open minds’

The family of Geraldine Reilly, one of two teens killed in the Belturbet bombing 48 years ago, hope a TV documentary aired on Monday will “open the door” to new information that might finally bring justice for the victims almost five decades later.

Key issues raised by the RTÉ investigates ‘Belturbet: A Bomb That Time Forgot’ programme are that British security forces failed to act on credible intelligence about Loyalist terrorist activity, and that both British and Irish governments still hold sealed files on the investigation.

“There’s not a day goes by we don’t still think of her,” says Anthony O’Reilly, Geraldine’s brother.

Geraldine (15) was inside Slowey’s chip shop when the 100lb bomb packed into a red Ford Escort and parked near the town’s post office exploded at 10:28pm on December 28, 1972.

Patrick Stanley (16) from Clara, Co Offaly, who also died that night, was in the phone box next to the post office. He was working as a gas delivery assistant and was calling his family to let them know he wouldn’t be home that night. The next the Stanley family heard of Patrick was that he was dead.

Nobody has ever been charged with the bombing, one of three similar attacks that same night, nor has anyone been convicted of Geraldine and Patrick’s murders.

The three no-warning bombings all occurred within 50 minutes of each other.

A bomb in Clones town (10.01pm), 12 miles from Belturbet, injured two people; while another in Pettigo, Co Donegal (10.50pm) caused extensive damage to a pub wall.

The cars used had been stolen in Enniskillen and the one used in the Belturbet bombing driven through a recently erected unapproved Aghalane crossing at around 9pm.

“They were two young children with their whole lives ahead of them,” says Anthony. “I hope this documentary will open up people’s minds to that. These were only children. Maybe there’s someone out there with some bit of information that might help move the investigation on a bit more.”

Anthony stands with his wife Marie next to the iconic bronze memorial of Geraldine and Patrick, erected in 2007 by artist Mel French. The location, now also the town’s carpark, was once the site of Farrelly’s bar, torn down as it was damaged beyond repair in the bombing.

So severe was the blast, reports from the time suggest homes up to a half-a-mile away were showered with shattered glass and debris.

Anthony, then just 22 years, had been double parked on the town’s Main Street waiting for his little sister to return with their supper. He was sitting just metres from the explosion himself. It’s a “miracle” he survived. But the experience, he accepts, scarred him both physically and emotionally for years to come.

“There are a lot of people in this town who carry the scars from that night with them,” Anthony tells the Celt. “I never heard a bang or nothing. I thought I’d fallen asleep until I came to and saw what had happened.”

The atrocity fractured the social fabric of the peaceful Erneside town too, a prior hub of shared trade between communities living both sides of the Border.

Marie was working in a local drapers at the time. After the bombing she remembers: “A lot of people just didn’t feel comfortable coming or going any more.”

The RTÉ programme, produced by Frank Shouldice (‘The Man who wanted to Fly’), suggests the Belturbet bombing was inextricably linked to the bombing of Aghalane Bridge a month previous.

There is even a suggestion that the British army were aware, digging into archival interviews with Captain – later Major – Vernon Rees, who commanded British troops in west Fermanagh.

The army commander recalled being asked to keep his men away from the area on the night of the bridge bombing, which damaged but did not destroy the crossing.

Fearing the impact the bridge closure would have on the local economy, Cavan County Council ignored objections and laid down a temporary bridge instead. Just days after opening, the town bombings occurred.

Two days later, the documentary claims, senior British Army officers, RUC and UDR met secretly to review Border security.

Minutes from the meeting are among a trove or records held by the British Ministry of Defence, that are to remain sealed to the public until 2057.

A number of Garda files from that time are also missing.

The documentary also links a campaign of bombings in the south to a Belfast-based UDA commando-type gang, information UK security forces were apparently aware of, and references its leader, a man named Billy McMurray, who died last year age 84.

Anthony believes the two governments do have a “duty” to the memory of those killed, and their families, to grant access to whatever files are necessary in order to seek justice.

“It’s very wrong. There is a duty there. It’s 48 years the investigation has gone on and we’re still no further it seems,” laments Anthony, who worries a breakthrough might not come in his lifetime. “It’s not looking good. But at least we’re trying. We have to, for Geraldine and Patrick.”

On December 28, Anthony and Marie will quietly visit Geraldine’s graveside. She is buried at the O’Reilly family plot at Staghall cemetery. Poignantly, the date marks the feast day of The Holy Innocents.

‘Sweet Sixteen’, the Reilly family feel was to be a coming of age year for the young Geraldine.

“She spent a lot of that last year looking after our eldest daughter, she did a lot of baby sitting, was always around our side of the house,” says Marie.

It’s with emotion that Anthony remembers that Geraldine had even purchased a present to give to little baby Caroline. “We would’ve give it to her on the 29th. She was a great girl, always thinking of others. But she was struck down. Her and Patrick.”

An Garda Síochána was asked about the files still sealed, and responded by saying they do not “comment on ongoing investigations.”