Darkest days of Troubles must never return

Mountbatten murders remembered in ceremony, 40 years on

The 40th anniversary of the bombing that killed Lord Mountbatten and three others serves as a stark reminder of dark days no one wants to return, a service for the victims has been told.

The commemoration of the fishing boat blast that killed the Queen’s second cousin, two members of his family and a local boat boy should be used to rededicate people to the causes of reconciliation and justice, a cleric said.

Church of Ireland Archdeacon Isaac Hanna told those gathered on a rainswept clifftop just outside the seaside village of Mullaghmore, Co Sligo, that no family should again have to experience the trauma endured by those bereaved by the IRA attack in August 1979.

The parents of Paul Maxwell, the Co Fermanagh teenager who was working on the boat when it blew up, were among those who came to remember 40 years on.

John Maxwell and Mary Hornsey, sitting either side of their daughter Lisa McKean, listened as Archdeacon Hanna spoke of a day when “innocence was lost”.

Rescuers and medics who responded to the incident joined them, as did former staff of Classiebawn Castle, the holiday home where Lord Mountbatten stayed on his frequent fishing trips to Ireland.

As well as killing the great uncle and mentor of Prince Charles and 15-yearold schoolboy Paul, the bomb on the Shadow V also claimed the lives of Lady Doreen Brabourne, the 83-year-old mother-in-law of Lord Mountbatten’s daughter, and his 14-year-old grandson Nicholas Knatchbull.

During the service, John Maxwell joined Paul’s mother to lay a wreath at the simple green cross memorial overlooking the waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

Ms Hornsey later placed a single yellow rose on a plaque dedicated to the victims, kissing the flower before letting go.

Archdeacon Hanna, who was joined by parish priest Tom Hever for the cross-community service, said: “Today is as much about rededicating ourselves to the cause of justice, the cause of reconciliation and the cause of freedom so that no person should have to go through what you as a group have gone through.”

Afterwards, Ms Hornsey said the service had been of great comfort to the family.

“I feel that in this service there was love and support for our family and we appreciate that.”

Picture: PA. Church of Ireland Archdeacon Isaac Hanna with Canon Tom Hever during the memorial service yesterday.