IT was one of the most heinous crimes during Northern Ireland's bloody past. Ten years on, the pain and suffering is as raw for the parents of Phillip Allen and Damian Trainor as it was on the night when the lifelong friends were murdered in the Railway Bar in Poyntzpass.
On March 3, 1998, LVF killers Stephen McClean and Noel McCready burst into the quiet bar, riddling it with bullets from handguns. Phillip and Damian were shot dead and two other men were injured in the horrific attack.
The mothers of the murdered
men have told how their lives changed forever that night and how there is not a day goes by when they don't think of their sons.
''I'm trying my best to go on with life but every day is the same, I can picture Damian working across the road in the garage,'' said Damian's mother Ann.
''Faith has got me through the last 10 years, I don't pray but others pray for me and it's a comfort.
I have received a great deal of support from the community and it's great.'' Ethel Allen can also remember that dreadful night and the scene which met her as she entered Canavan's bar.
''As I was making my way to the bar, I thought Phillip had maybe been shot in the arm,'' she said.
''But when I went into the bar he said, 'mum, I'm dying, I'm dying'.
I told him I loved him and not to worry and that we would follow him to Daisy Hill but he died before he got there.'' Both women believe the men who murdered their sons should rot behind bars forever.
Ann said McClean and McCready are both ''pure evil''.
''Please God I hope they don't get out of prison,'' she said .
''They will suffer one day and I hope I see that day.''
For full story, see the Banbridge Leader.
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