THE daughter of a murdered SDLP member has recounted how Seamus Mallon refused to allow the RUC to touch his remains.
An emotional Denise Mullen recalled how Mr Mallon was one of the first people to arrive at her house after her father Denis (36) was shot dead.
She was aged three when he was killed at their home near Moy, Co Tyrone, in September 1975. The murder was carried out by the Glenanne Gang which included members of the RUC, UDR and UVF. Mr Mallon and Mr Mullen were close friends.
The blood-soaked child sat at her father’s side until help arrived.
“He was there within 20 and 25 minutes of Daddy being shot,” Ms Mullen said.
“He was driving along and had interference on his car radio. He must have had a similar radio as the police. It came across and he heard about a shooting at Collegeland. He turned and headed straight for our house.”
Ms Mullen, a former SDLP councillor and current Aontú councillor, said Mr Mallon had strong words for police on his arrival at the murder scene.
“He arrived to find me sitting on the doorstep covered in blood,” she said.
“The RUC would not let me and my brother away from the house.
“They said there was a possibility there was a bomb in the house.
“He was going frantic and having a row with them.
“It was only when they did a search of the house that they allowed Daddy to be removed.”
Ms Mullen said Mr Mallon refused to allow police to handle his old friend’s remains.
“They went to lift him and he was so angry and annoyed and in pieces and he said he would be lifting ‘the greatest man in Ireland’,” she said.
Ms Mullen said Mr Mallon and her uncle Pat Donaghy then removed her father’s remains.
“I can see them yet, putting him in the ambulance,” she said.
Ms Mullen said that during a talk in the Moy two years ago Mr Mallon spoke about her father.
“When he started to talk about Daddy he broke and started to cry. He could not go on,” she said.
“He said: ‘He was my greatest friend’.”
Ms Mullen said she still has treasured presents bought for her and her younger brother by Mr Mallon.
“He has always been a part of my life,” she said.
