Mixed views from victims of Troubles

Victims of terrorist violence in Northern Ireland have been giving their reaction to the death of Martin McGuinness.

Julie Hambleton was just 11 when her elder sister Maxine died as a result of horrific injuries caused in the 1974 Birmingham Pub bombings.

She told us: “With him (Martin McGuinness) is buried the truth and that’s why it is now time for Gerry Adams and his ilk to come forward - to tell the truth and tell the families what they know and where the bodies are buried and to give names as to who killed who, when and where.”

And Stephen Gault whose father Samuel was killed in the IRA bomb in Enniskillen in 1987, said he could not forgive the former Deputy First Minister for his terrorist past.

Mr Gault, then 18, was one of 63 injured in the blast which claimed 11 lives.

Speaking about the death of Mr McGuinness - who was once accused in a TV documentary of knowing in advance about the bombing - Mr Gault said he would always remember the former Stormont deputy first minister as a terrorist, not a peacemaker.

“My feelings are with the Enniskillen families. Martin McGuinness has taken to the grave the truth and the answers that we need to be able to move forward. He knows who bombed Enniskillen. Initially my thoughts and prayers go out to the Enniskillen victims,'' Mr Gault said.

He added: “I will always remember Martin McGuinness as the terrorist he was. If he had been repentant my thoughts might have been slightly different. But he took to his grave proud that he served in the IRA. There was no remorse or repentance from him even up to his death.''

Mr Gault said he feared that Mr McGuinness would only be remembered as a peacemaker.

“My fear is Martin McGuinness is going to be remembered as this great peacemaker similar to the way Nelson Mandela was remembered after his death. My fear is that his horrific past will not be mentioned.

“People might say I am unchristian that I have no sympathy for his family. But it wasn't Christian to send people out to murder innocent people.

“Did the McGuinness family feel any sympathy for the Gault family when my father was cruelly and brutally murdered at the age of 49 by an IRA bomb?

“I have heard all this talk about how Martin McGuinness was only 66. My father was only 49 when he was murdered. He wasn't even 50. He was a very young man.''

And former Tory Cabinet minister Norman Tebbit branded Mr McGuinness “a coward”.

The peer, whose wife Margaret was paralysed when the IRA bombed a Brighton hotel during the Conservative Party conference, said the world was a sweeter and cleaner'' place now the former deputy first minister is dead.

Lord Tebbitt insisted he had only turned to peace to save his own skin''.

He told PA: “He was not only a multi-murderer, he was a coward.

He knew that the IRA were defeated because British intelligence had penetrated right the way up to the Army Council and that the end was coming.

He then sought to save his own skin and he knew that it was likely he would be charged before long with several murders which he had personally committed and he decided that the only thing to do was to opt for peace.

He claimed to be a Roman Catholic.

I hope that his beliefs turn out to be true.”

The 1984 Brighton bombing of the Grand Hotel in the middle of the night killed five and left many injured.

Lord Tebbit said he refused to forgive Mr McGuinness for his terrorist past because forgiveness requires confession of sins and repentance''.

There was none of that,'' he added.

Meanwhile, Jo Berry, the daughter of Conservative MP Sir Anthony Berry who was killed in the Brighton bombing, said Martin McGuinness should be remembered for his efforts to build peace.

But Jo Berry, the daughter of Conservative MP Sir Anthony Berry who was killed in the Brighton bombing, said Martin McGuinness should be remembered for his efforts to build peace.

She told the Press Association: Today is a day to really appreciate what (McGuinness) has achieved.

His legacy is one of reconciliation and peace-building, which is always going to be messy and difficult after a conflict and despite that, he showed us how to move forward and showed us a way where former enemies can work together for the peace of the whole.

What we have now is so much better than what I grew up in. What we have now is peace.''

Ms Berry has reconciled with Patrick Magee, the man who planted the bomb that killed my father'', through her charity Building Bridges for Peace.

The two met in 2000 following Magee's release from prison, which led to him apologising for the killing.

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