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Shaun Keenan

Claudy bomb families remember day 'community was torn apart' 50 years ago

The brother of 16-year-old William 'Billy' Temple who was killed in Claudy 50 years ago said he fears dying before getting justice for the victims and their families.

David Temple, 69, was the oldest of four brothers and two sisters when he received the news that his brother was one of the nine victims killed when three no-warning bombs devastated the village of Claudy in Co Derry in 1972.

At 10:15am on July 31, the first bomb exploded with two others following in quick succession - changing the face and hearts of the local community forever.

Read more: MLA slams lack of support for businesses affected by flooding in North West

The other victims who tragically lost their lives that day include Kathryn Eakin who had been cleaning the windows of her family’s grocery business, and Patrick Connolly, 15.

Among the adults killed were Artie Hone, 38, Joseph McCluskey, 39, Elizabeth McElhinney, 59, James McClelland, 65, Rose McLaughlin, 52 and David Miller, 60.

"It was the darkest of days," David Temple told MyDerry . "I remember the day as if it was yesterday. It's as vivid in my mind now as it was the day I was told that my brother Billy had been murdered.

"He was a good lad. He had a good standard of education and was from Donemana. We grew up in the small village and we had a good upbringing."

William Temple who was killed on July 31 1972 in Claudy (handout)

"He played football and Gaelic [football] and would have no problem mixing with both sides of the community. He had friends on both sides at that time," David said.

"Billy had got a job and was helping the local milkman on his Monday morning round when he was killed in the third blast on Church Street at around 10:15am.

"There was a helper needed on the lorry that day and I will always remember the manager had told me that he had chosen Billy because he was in front of a bunch of lads and that was that. He apologised to me and I told him that he didn't owe me an apology."

No one has ever been brought to justice for the attack which was blamed on the Provisional IRA, but they have never taken responsibility for the atrocity.

A report in 2010 by the Police Ombudsman had pinpointed that a Catholic priest, the late Father James Chesney, had been a suspect. However, the report also stated that the state and the Catholic Church covered up his suspected role in the bombing.

Father James Chesney. In 2010 a report by the Police Ombudsman found that the Catholic priest, had been a suspect in the bombings at the Co Londonderry village of Claudy on July 31, 1972. (PA Wire/PA Images)

"I remember that day as well as yesterday," David added. "My boss came over to me at my work and told me to grab my things, that he was taking me home. I asked him what was wrong but he told me that he wouldn't speak about it and that it would be best to go home straight away.

"When I did arrive home the rest of the family - including my mother and father - were all there. My uncle was the one who had told us. He said that William had been killed in Claudy after an explosion.

"We couldn't believe it. We were shocked and that's everyone in that house started to cry, including my father. William's death effectively ended my father's life as well because he was never the same after it. We lost him five years later on 14th February 1977.

"It destroyed my family. The household was never the same again. We all had to get on with our own lives but because I was the oldest I felt that I needed to take on the role that my father had played."

William Temple's brothers David Temple and Adrian Temple at his grave in Donemana Co Tyrone (handout)

William's family was one of three - including David Miller's and James McClelland's - that took legal action against the PSNI, the Northern Ireland Office and the Catholic Church almost a decade ago in 2013.

"I wake up every day and this is what I think about and it's the last thing that I think about before I go to sleep at night. I look at William's pictures. I remember leaving my mother down to her bed many a night and she would look up at his picture and she would ask him if there was going to be any justice.

"My mother passed away four years ago when she was 91 years old and she never got to get that justice for William and the other families affected by this.

"We have never got the justice that we deserve. It was of the atrocities in Northern Ireland that was never investigated because their was collusion. Many played their part in making sure that it was never investigated.

"People in the street know to this day who was involved in it but we won't stop until there is justice. That's what I fear most of all now. I am 69 years old and I am afraid that we won't get that justice, but while I am on this Earth I will never stop fighting for my brother and the other victims.'

Meanwhile, the family of Rose McLaughlin, who died as a result of her injuries from one of the blasts at Altnagevlin hospital on 3rd August 1972, said that 'words would never do justice to the devastation this brought upon our family'.

"Our mum was a wonderful wife and mother who always had a dream of running her own business," they said. "She fulfilled this dream in 1962 when she opened a cafe in Claudy and we all pulled together as a family to help with the day to day running.

"On Monday the 31st July 1972 everything was to change for the nine families in Claudy who would lose a loved one on this day or in the days that followed. A small village community who got on quietly with life, until that fateful day, were to find their lives decimated by the actions of others."

James and Rose McLaughlin on their wedding day (handout)

They added: "A car bomb had been placed outside our shop and as Dad stood at the counter serving a customer, Mum had just come back inside following a telephone call with her brother Michael in Derry. She was standing by the window speaking to a customer when the bomb went off.

"Words will never do justice to the devastation this brought upon our family as we dealt with the grief of our loss and the manner of our mum's passing.

"Eight young children had lost their mum and a husband had lost his wife. Our mum was our rock and the very foundation of our family and her murder robbed us of the love, kindness and guidance that had previously blessed our lives.

" Our dad never got over that day and the pain of his loss was hard to process. This was a time long before counselling would be offered to help ease the pain.

"In the years that have passed since our mum’s death we, her children, have built our own families upon the foundation stones our mother laid down for us and although our mum may not have been with us to share in many happy moments, our memories of her and her presence has always been felt, we miss her every day.

"To this day our loved ones have not received the justice they so rightly deserve nor has the truth been told of the events of that day. It seems that in the 50 years since their murders they have been continually failed by those who we had placed our trust in to serve this justice."

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