Attack on IRA victim's memorial was '˜hate crime'

Officers said criminal damage was caused to William Clarke’s memorial stone and plaque on the Carricknagavanagh Road, Mullaghbawn between midnight and 8am on Saturday 6 August.

Constable Jon McDonald said the total damage is estimated to be approximately £1000.

“We are appealing for anyone who might have information which may assist the investigation to contact police at Newtownhamilton Police Station on the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference number 1271 of 07/08/16. Or, if someone would prefer to provide information without giving their details they can contact the independent charity Crimestoppers and speak to them anonymously on 0800 555 111.”

Police said they are treating the attack as a sectarian hate crime.

Local UUP Danny Kennedy MLA and Cllr David Taylor have condemned the damage, which they said had been erected to an innocent Protestant civilian murdered by the IRA in April 1977.

In a joint statement they described the attack on the memorial as “disgusting and hurtful in the extreme to the widow and family circle of William Clarke who was abducted and murdered in very cruel circumstances nearly forty years ago”.

Danny Kennedy MLA said “This attack is entirely reprehensible and completely devoid of feeling after nearly forty years - those responsible are the lowest of the low”.

Cllr David Taylor said the attack had caused great distress to the widow and members of the Clarke family, “who have suffered in silence since 1977 and borne their grief and loss with enormous dignity”. He described those responsible as “seriously sick individuals” and appealed to the local South Armagh community to “ensure the memorial, when reinstated, would be respected in the future”.

South Armagh Victims campaigner Willie Frazer said Mr Clarke’s widow was verbally abused by locals driving back and forward past the memorial on the same evening.

“They were shouting ‘up the RA’ and that sort of thing,” he said.

“This sort of thing happens all the time in south Armagh and is rarely reported. We are often told that victims need to move on, but in fact it is the people who engage in this sort of abuse who really need to move on and leave their sectarianism behind.”