A PEACE campaigner whose 12-year-old son was killed by an IRA bomb over two decades ago has said the Manchester families are facing "the most unimaginable horror any parent can ever countenance".
Colin Parry's son Tim and three-year-old Johnathan Ball died in 1993 when the IRA bombed the nearby town of Warrington.
Monday night's terror attack comes two decades after Manchester city centre and Warrington were targeted in a series of devastating bombings by the IRA.
In June 1996 the Provisional IRA parked in the city centre a lorry carrying 3,300 lbs of homemade explosives – the biggest bomb detonated in Britain since the Second World War.
More than 200 people were injured from the explosion – including some a quarter of a mile away hit by flying glass – but, remarkably, none were killed.
In 1993, an IRA bomb attack at a gasworks in Warrington caused extensive damage. A further bombing weeks later on Bridge Street killed Tim and Johnathan and injured 54 others.
Mr Parry, who helped to set up a peace centre in memory of the boys, said he would be offering its support services to the Manchester families.
"To be told your child has died in a bombing attack, when they've gone out to what was meant to be a happy, fun event – watching a pop singer at a concert – it almost beggars belief," he said.
"I know the parents are going to be utterly bewildered and in the deepest, deepest trough they'll ever be in their lives."
Speaking to the BBC yesterday, Mr Parry said the Manchester victims would need support for many years to come.
"When the news moves on, and tragically it does, these parents will very much feel isolated and alone," he said.
"There will be many people in Northern Ireland who would recognise this, who went through the same kinds of tragedy, where life has to move on.
"And it moves on rather quickly for families not affected, whereas, for the families affected, it's like time stands still."
Mr Parry said the loss of a child can put enormous strain on family relationships and they "have to be able to guard against that and work together as best they can".
He described how at the time of Tim's death, his own family had been comforted and inspired by Gordon Wilson, whose daughter died in the Enniskillen bombing in 1987.
"We found his words enormously helpful because he was a man who we greatly admired anyway," he said.
"He stood like a beacon for sense and sensibility, as a great man."
Mr Wilson rose to prominence as a peacemaker after he said he forgave those who murdered his daughter.
Mr Parry has repeatedly said he will never forgive the IRA, but he did meet leading members of Sinn Féin during his efforts to promote peace.
This included inviting the late Martin McGuinness, a senior Sinn Féin politician and former IRA commander, to deliver a peace lecture marking the 20th anniversary of the bombing.
