Omagh bomb victim was recent graduate
A young Catholic police officer murdered by a booby-trap car bomb in the North had only recently graduated from training college.
The 25-year-old new recruit was blown up when the device exploded under the vehicle outside his home on the outskirts of Omagh, Co Tyrone.
Dissident republicans opposed to the peace process are believed to have carried out the callous killing of the member of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
His murder was roundly condemned by the Irish and British Governments, Stormont, church leaders and cross-party representatives.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny described the bomb attack as a heinous and pointless act of terror.
“Those who carried it out want to drag us back to the misery and pain of the past,” he said.
“They are acting in defiance of the Irish people.”
British Prime Minister David Cameron said the young officer had dedicated himself to serving the entire community of the North.
“Those who carried out this wicked and cowardly crime will never succeed in dragging Northern Ireland back to a dark and bloody past,” he warned.
“Their actions are rejected by the overwhelming majority of people from all parts of the community.”
The explosion happened as the officer got into his car in the residential Highfield Close development, which is off the main Gortin Road, just before 4pm.
The blast sent shivers through Omagh where 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, were killed in the 1998 Real IRA car bomb attack.
It is understood the victim, a former pupil of the Christian Brothers Grammar School in Omagh, was leaving to start a shift at Enniskillen police station.
About 2,000 people taking part in the Omagh Half Marathon had earlier passed the nearby entrance to the estate.
First Minister Peter Robinson said the murder was shocking and deplorable.
“This attack is intended to deter young Catholics from joining the police and I urge them not to be deterred by those who have nothing to offer our society,” he said.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said: “Whoever carried out this act offer nothing to the community and have no role to play in our future.
“They have betrayed the community and set themselves against the will of the people of Ireland. No cause is served by this act and let no excuse be acknowledged.”
Dissidents have carried out a string of similar attacks on Catholic PSNI officers in recent years.
Pc Stephen Carroll, 48, was gunned down in March 2009, just two days after the Real IRA shot two British soldiers dead at the Massereene Army base in Antrim.
And Pc Peadar Heffron was seriously injured when a device exploded under the driver’s seat of his car in west Belfast in January 2010.
President Mary McAleese said she was deeply shocked and saddened by the most recent callous murder.
“This heinous crime will not succeed in its evil intent of destroying the peaceful and democratic future to which the people of Northern Ireland are so clearly committed,” Mrs McAleese, who comes from Belfast, added.
Secretary of State Owen Paterson described the killing as a cruel and evil act.
“The people in all parts of Ireland and beyond want peace and those who carried out this atrocity are in the grip of an obscene delusion if they think that by murder they can defy their will,” he said.
“They must know that they can never succeed in defeating the democratic will of the people.”
The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, said the deliberate taking of innocent human life is always wrong.
He said: “I implore the perpetrators of this shameful killing to realise the futility of their actions and to call off this senseless campaign.”
Presbyterian Moderator Dr Norman Hamilton described the killing as an evil and despicable act by people whose only contribution to society is to bring death and destruction.
“The courage and commitment of the PSNI officer who has given his life are the qualities we all must show as we continue to build our shared future together and banish hatred and killing to the past,” he said.
