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Petition calls for Theresa Villiers to withdraw Loughinisland remarks

Relatives for Justice has set up a petition calling for Secretary of State Theresa Villiers to apologise for remarks made about the Loughinisland massacre earlier this year
Relatives for Justice has set up a petition calling for Secretary of State Theresa Villiers to apologise for remarks made about the Loughinisland massacre earlier this year Relatives for Justice has set up a petition calling for Secretary of State Theresa Villiers to apologise for remarks made about the Loughinisland massacre earlier this year

ALMOST 1,800 people have signed an online petition calling on Secretary of State Theresa Villiers to apologise to relatives of those killed during the Loughinisland massacre.

The call came after the Police Ombudsman found that there was collusion in the UVF murder of six Catholics at the Heights Bar in Loughinisland in June 1994.

In last week’s damning report Dr Michael Maguire confirmed a catalogue of links between a loyalist killer gang operating in south Down and the security forces.

It is also known that the weapon used to killed the innocent Catholic men at Loughinisland, a Czech made VZ-58, was part of a batch smuggled into the north with the help of British army agent and UDA intelligence officer Brian Nelson in 1987.

Those who died had been in the Heights Bar watching the Republic of Ireland play Italy in the 1994 World Cup when the murder gang burst in and sprayed them with automatic gunfire.

They included Barney Green (87), Adrian Rogan (34), Malcolm Jenkinson (53), Daniel McCreanor (59), Patrick O’Hare (35), and 35-year-old Eamon Byrne.

Earlier this year Ms Villiers caused controversy when she claimed it was a "deliberate distortion" to say there was widespread misconduct in the security forces during the Troubles.

She went on to say there is a “pernicious counter narrative” which is a "version of the Troubles that seeks to displace responsibility from the people who perpetrated acts of terrorism and place the state at the heart of nearly every atrocity and murder that took place - be it through allegations of collusion, misuse of agents and informers or other forms of unlawful activity".

"Remember this. It wasn't the RUC or the Army who planted the bombs at La Mon, Enniskillen, or the Shankill, or pulled the triggers at Loughinisland or Greysteel," she later added.

The petition was set up by campaign group Relatives for Justice on Monday.

Director Mark Thompson said British state agents had a central role in Loughinisland.

“It was RUC paid agents who pulled the triggers and it was the RUC who failed to investigate the atrocity, with houses not searched and no arrests made for a month, despite having names within a day,” he said.

“Alibis weren’t checked out and evidence was persistently destroyed by the police. It was the RUC who destroyed the getaway car after 10 months denying future police investigations the opportunity to test for DNA.”

He called on Ms Villiers to now withdraw her remarks.

“Following the publication of the Police Ombudsman Report on Loughinisland Ms Villiers cannot say she accepts the findings of the report and allow her hurtful and damaging remarks to stand.

“She must retract the remarks and make apology to the Loughinisland families and all families affected by the British military policy of collusion,” he said.