Jacqueline Toland (49) last night said she has no doubt the time her daughter spent in prison as a baby
has contributed to her ill health. convicted of her part in the Ballykelly pub bombing, she was sentenced to 10 years for manslaughter.
The court accepted that she was forced into involvement in the attack. as a 19-year-old she found out she was pregnant just a week before she was arrested and remanded in armagh women's prison where she was held in a cell used by republican inmates previously involved in a no-wash protest. after her daughter was born at craigavon Hospital in June 1984, Ms Toland, her mother ann Moore - who was serving a sentence in armagh prison for the Droppin Well attack - and the newborn baby were all moved to a separate wing that also formerly housed republican prisoners on the protest, during which inmates had smeared walls with excrement.
Ms Toland believes the cells in which she was held while pregnant and after her daughter was born all underwent chemical cleaning.
The mother-of-six said she suspected her daughter was suffering from a medical condition while still a toddler in the jail.
She said she feels a "sense of responsibility" for her daughter's condition.
"i still feel guilt," she said. "For a long time i could not get my head around the fact i was responsible for my child having this illness.
"if i had not been there she would not have taken it."
Ms Toland said authorities should have done more to provide an appropriate environment for her daughter.
Ms Toland's mother ann Moore (then 40) and aunt Helena Semple (29) were both given life sentences, as were Semple's partner eamon Moore (25) and Patrick Shotter (40), Ms Toland's then boyfriend.
Ms Toland said she regrets not contesting the Ballykelly charges at trial.
"When i look back i wish i had fought it," she said.
"One of my charges was possession of a bomb and i have never seen one in my life.
"if i didn't plead guilty i would have been done with murder."