A MAN whose son took his own life following a bus bombing has called for an official record of suicides linked to the Troubles.
Ernie Wilson (83) was driving a school bus in Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh when a device exploded under the vehicle in 1988. The attack was an attempt by the IRA to kill Mr Wilson, who was a part-time UDR soldier.
DUP leader Arlene Foster was among the school children on the bus.
Mr Wilson's son James (27), who would search the bus for suspect devices every day, was tormented by the thought that he had failed to detect the bomb. He took his own life shortly afterwards.
Mr Wilson, who suffered serious injuries in the blast, said his son blamed himself for what happened, as he helped to check the bus every morning before it left their family home.
"He just went quiet, out of himself," he told the BBC.
"He wasn't the same James, lively and stuff. He was always the man for doing the work around the house, cutting the grass and cleaning up but that had all gone.
"He just went down."
Mr Wilson said he believed his son took his own life because of the Troubles and his death should be recognised on the official death toll.
"If there was no Troubles and that happened to James, that's a completely different story," he said,
"It was the Troubles that done it on James."
He said he believes that similar deaths by suicide, linked to the conflict, should also be recorded as Troubles-related.
"That's if their parents, or whoever is left allows it or wants it," he said.
"I'm not talking for anyone else, only myself. You might have people there who wouldn't want that, but in my opinion , it should be."
