MY ANGUISH OVER SISTER’S MURDER BY IRISH LEAGUE STAR STEPHEN McALORUM
IRISH League footballer Stephen McAlorum has revealed how the murder of his teenage sister Megan rocked the family.
The 16-year-old schoolgirl was killed by Thomas Purcell in west Belfast in April 2004.
Stephen’s mum Margaret, who campaigned tirelessly for justice, passed away last November after a battle with primary biliary cholangitis (PBS), a rare auto-immune condition that causes inflammation and scarring in the liver.
Ballymena United midfielder Stephen, who won two Irish Cups with Glentoran, admitted Megan’s death hit him hard.
“My wee sister Megan was 16 when she was murdered,” he said.
“I was 17 and just about to turn 18. That’s normally a big celebration but since then I don’t really celebrate birthdays.
“That 18th birthday feeling or the anger never really leaves you. It was one of the reasons why I left Glenavon, because I wanted to be closer to my family.
“It all happened in 2004 and afterwards I found it hard to come back into football. As we were nearly the same age, we were very close and had our teenage disagreements. It was very hard to take.”
The killer, a member of the Travelling community, was transferred to an English jail to serve his sentence without the McAlorums being informed, and Margaret’s subsequent lobbying led to a change in policy whereby victims’ families are now informed of the release date or any transfer of convicted killers.
Margaret was 63 when she passed away and Stephen felt his mum struggled to come to terms with the loss of her daughter.
“My mum held the family together, she was a rock but I’m sure it took a toll on her in the long run,” Stephen
(right) added.
“The last year was tough as well because we lost our mum in November. I was out injured and frustrated with football when it all happened.
“She had fallen ill but I didn’t think we would lose her. She had PBC, a liver disease, and just deteriorated. A doctor based in London arrived to see if she was okay for a transplant but she had slipped into a coma hours before the doctor arrived. “It was hard to take for the whole family.” In an interview as part of this newspaper’s Footballers’ Lives series, Stephen also revealed how his two-year-old daughter Fiadh is battling cystic fibrosis.
He said it has been “a very tough time”.
“The genetic disease affects her organs. Her pancreas doesn’t work so myself and my wife Orlagh have to do half-an-hour physio twice a day,” he added.
“She is on tablets but it’s like an invisible disease because if she was sitting here now you would think she was a normal girl with no issues.
“It’s a life-limiting disease with the average age for survival as low as 20 in 1980, but now it’s close to the 40 mark.
“In the past few decades they have done a lot for the cystic fibrosis community.”
Describing his daughter as a real fighter, Stephen added: “She’s doing really well, which is all you can ask for.”