IRA man’s ‘epiphany moment’ with daughter of bomb victim
Thailand memorial held to coincide with funeral of NI charity worker
THE daughter of a Conservative MP killed by an IRA bomb has written about the “epiphany” moment when a man convicted of the blast “stopped justifying” his actions.
Jo Berry and Patrick Magee struck up an unusual friendship over 20 years of dialogue after the bomb attack on the Grand Hotel in Brighton.
Her father Sir Anthony Berry was one of five people killed in the 1984 blast targeting then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at the Conservative Party conference.
Writing in a foreword to Magee’s memoir Where Grieving Begins: Building Bridges After The Brighton Bomb, Ms Berry described it as both an “honour and a challenge”. Recalling her first meeting with Magee in 2000, she wrote she knew he would come with a “sense of righteousness”, but said an “epiphany moment” happened.
She stated: “I remember the difference — he was no longer justifying or saying the word we.
“He was speaking from his heart, being vulnerable and asking me about my father.
“He was visibly shaken and emotional; his voice had more depth ... it was dawning on him for the first time that my dad had been a human being and he had killed him.
“He realised he had lost some of his humanity and was guilty of demonising them in the same way he accuses the other of demonising republicans.
“I had reached my limit of being able to listen after another hour, and that was when he said ‘I am sorry I killed your father’.
“He spoke with great feeling and conveyed how this weighed heavily in him.
“I say, ‘I’m glad it was you’ — the words just popped out, and 20 years later we are still discussing what I meant.”
She also writes: “I have never felt comfortable with justification for violence and there is much in this book”.
But she added: “I understand that he is writing for some of his community who do not feel heard. For some people he may have gone too far, for others not far enough.”
Magee writes about his “tabloid branding as the Brighton bomber” and how he came to be involved in the IRA, explaining how he felt “no other choices” had been open to him, referring to an “anti-imperialist struggle”.
He recalled having “misgivings” about his first meeting with Ms Berry.
Their relationship grew and their pair have since filmed for TV together and the name of Magee’s memoir is in part inspired by a poem she wrote.
“One unalterable factor, intrusive and unsettling, continually asserted itself: I had killed this woman’s father,” he wrote of their first meeting.
“Placed in the same situation I would be grateful for one iota of the calm integrity she exuded.
“Nothing in her demeanour or conduct betrayed any hint of hostility or bitterness.
“Instead, she epitomised dignity and poise.”
He said he shared his perspective, that the targeting of the Thatcher administration “was a legitimate act of war”.
Magee reflects in the book that the “breaking down of stereotypes was a two-way street”.
He wrote that from the start of their dialogue, he learned her father had been a “decent man”.
“I grew to see a stunningly simple truth: the goodness and intelligence and value I perceived in this woman must in some measure have come from her father. And I had killed him.
“I had killed a fine human being,” he wrote.
TWO families who united to call for stiffer penalties after losing teenage children to dangerous drivers have welcomed plans to impose a maximum 20-year prison sentence on those convicted of the crime.
The sentence will increase from the current maximum 14year jail term, Justice Minister Naomi Long has proposed.
Mrs Long outlined the move during a meeting with Peter and Niamh Dolan from Omagh, who lost their son Enda (18) during his first term at Queen’s University in October 2014.
He was struck by killer driver David Stewart.
Stewart, who was high on drink and drugs, drove with the teenager on the roof of his van for 800 yards before crashing in south Belfast.
He admitted the offences and was sentenced to seven years.
This was later increased on appeal to nine years, with half served in prison.
The Dolans came together with the parents of Lesley-ann Mccarragher to ensure other families receive justice, not only to see offenders appropriately charged, but also to ensure there is adequate deterrent.
Lesley-ann, from Armagh, was 19 when she was killed while jogging in April 2016.
Uninsured and unlicensed driver Nathan Finn sped from the scene, leaving his victim lying on the road.
Jailed for nine years, Finn successfully had his sentence cut by 12 months on appeal.
Last autumn a public consultation indicated a huge majority in support of harsher sentences for death drivers.
Peter Dolan has long believed the existing maximum sentence of 14 years “never reflected the devastation and heartbreak caused to the families of victims”.
He said: “This planned increase to 20 years is a step in the right direction and people need a deterrent because 14 years for death by dangerous driving is not enough. Given all the tragedies in relation to this, nobody in Northern Ireland has ever received that maximum sentence.”
Expressing their relief, Lesley-ann’s parents Liz and James added: “As the minister acknowledged, this will not help us or the Dolan family, but we can say we fought and pushed to ensure a change. There has to be a broader recognition of the high level of risk caused by dangerous driving and associated offending.”
16
A MAN was taken to hospital last night after being shot in the leg in west Belfast.
The shooting happened in the Good Shepherd Road area of Dunmurry.
The incident was reported to the police at approximately 8.15pm.
The victim was taken to hospital for treatment.
Police are investigating and have appealed for information.
Anyone who witnessed this incident, or who has any information which could assist with the investigation, is asked to contact the PSNI on 101, quoting reference number 1891 of 17/02/21.
Information can also be given anonymously through the independent Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111.
According to the latest PSNI statistics, 15 people were injured in paramilitary-style shootings between February last year and the end of last month.
This is compared with 18 over the previous 12 months.
More bombings and paramilitary-style shootings were recorded in Belfast than in any other policing district in Northern Ireland.
An upsurge in shootings in the Causeway Coast and Glens area last year recently led to PSNI district commander Ian Magee calling in the Paramilitary Crime Taskforce.
THE restricted numbers of people able to attend the funeral of an 89-year-old Portrush woman in the town yesterday were not the only ones mourning her passing.
More than 6,000 miles away in Thailand, a service was also held for Joan Gregg, whose son Willie has been supporting children in Phuket ever since the tsunami devastated the area in 2004, killing tens of thousands of people.
Staff and children at the Duang Prateep Foundation gathered to remember Mrs Gregg, who they affectionately called ‘Wee Joan’ and who was a passionate backer of her son’s work for tsunami survivors at the Foundation’s Baan Than Namchai orphanage.
Mr Gregg, who is the manager of the Harbour Bar in Portrush, has raised over £250,000 for the home through his Willie’s Orphan Fund and his mother played a prominent role in its administration.
At the memorial service at the organisation’s headquarters in
Bangkok, speakers said the organisation and the children had been deeply saddened to learn of Mrs Gregg’s death.
They said Mrs Gregg was a “wonderful woman who was able to affect the lives of many children in Thailand and would be missed by the Foundation”.
Back home at a funeral service at the Holy Trinity Church in Portrush, the Rev Peter Mcdowell said: “Joan was a great support to Willie as he established his orphan fund.
“She was held in the highest esteem by the many people who travelled from Thailand to Portrush, and she was very fondly remembered by them for her innate kindness and hospitality and welcome.
“It is a testimony to how kindness and compassion break down barriers of distance, culture, faith to know that as we gather here to remember and give thanks for Joan, at the Duang Prateep Foundation in Bangkok they are adding their prayers to ours as they remember her and the impact she has had on their lives.”
Mrs Gregg’s son Kerry paid tribute to his mother and it was revealed that the tireless charity worker had helped the Second World War effort at the age of six.
Among the other good causes she aided were the Red Cross, Guide Dogs for the Blind and Deaf, the USPCA, the Northern Ireland Hospice, the Royal British Legion and the RNLI in Portrush.
The lifeboat station was among the places at which Mrs Gregg’s funeral cortege halted on a ‘tour’ of the her favourite parts of the town before the funeral service.
It also stopped at a tourist amenity that Mrs Gregg and her late husband Billy ran at Lansdowne Crescent before the Troubles.
Mourners stood socially distanced outside the church and at the various stopping off points around the town.
More than 2,000 messages of condolence had been posted about Mrs Gregg’s death on social media yesterday. One came from the country and western singer Brendan Quinn.
Although Mrs Gregg didn’t die from coronavirus, her minister Mr Mcdowell referred in his address to the toll that Covid has had been having on everyone in society.
He talked of the “heavy burden” faced by residents, families and staff at nursing homes like the one that Mrs Gregg had been in before she was taken into hospital, where she died at the weekend.