Republican News · Thursday 03 February 2000

[An Phoblacht]

Poyntzpass killers sentenced

Three loyalists have been given life sentences for their role in the killing of Poyntzpass friends Philip Allen and Damien Trainor at the Railway bar in March 1998.

Philip Allen and Damien Trainor, one Protestant and the other Catholic, were lifelong friends. Their deaths came during a series of sectarian killings carried out by the LVF.

Stephen McClean of Hillside Park and Noel McCready of Dickson Park in the nearby village of Seapatrick, County Armagh were convicted of murder, along with a third man, Ryan Robley from Highfields Gardens, who had pleaded guilty.

The two killers smirked and laughed as Judge Kerr announced his judgement. Identifying the convicted men as sectarian killers, the Judge said they had entered the Railway Bar in Poyntzpass on the night of the shooting because they believed the customers were all Catholic and were intent on killing everyone.

A fourth man charged in connection with the killings, David Keys, was savagely tortured and killed by loyalists on the LVF wing in Long Kesh shortly after being remanded in custody following his arrest. It is believed that Keys was an informer for the RUC.


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