Sackville bombings inquest returns verdict

The relatives of a bus conductor killed in the 1972 Sackville Place bombings in Dublin will not rest until they discover the circumstances surrounding his death, his widow told his inquest.

Monica Duffy-Campbell was four-and-a-half months pregnant with the couple’s second child when her husband, Thomas Duffy, was killed. The bomb was one of several blamed on British force collusion with unionist paramilitaries in the early seventies.

Father of two George Bradshaw, a bus driver with the same company, was also killed. George Bradshaw’s sister Rose said, ,He left behind a grief that never ends. It’s as raw in my mind today as it was then.”

The inquest is also examining the death of Scottish-born Thomas Douglas. The 21-year-old had moved to Dublin to work a few months before he was killed in another bomb on the same street in 1973.

The jury was told he had been going to buy a newspaper to send to his mother when the bomb exploded, throwing him into a shop window.

Last week, a jury of three men and four women returned a verdict of unlawful killing by persons or persons unknown for all three men at Dublin Coroners’ Court.

They added a recommendation that the transcript of the inquest be sent to the Taoiseach and to the British Direct Ruler in the North.

Speaking after the inquest Margaret Urwin, of support group Justice For The Forgotten, said the families were pleased that the inquest had finally been held.

But she said: “The lack of co-operation from the British authorities at all levels established by the state has to be greatly deplored.”

“We are also disappointed by the lack of information in the garda files, so that somebody looking at it today cannot have a clear understanding of what occurred.”

More than 130 people were injured in the first bomb attacks on the night that the Dublin parliament was debating a bill to amend the already draconian Offences Against the State Act.

Following the bombing, Fine Gael who had up to then been reluctant to support the amendments voted in favour.

Despite the fact that the bombings were carried out by British-backed death squads, this legislation was only used against Republicans and members of other nationalist groups.

Urgent Appeal