IRA victim: Twitter trolls won’t drive me off social media

Sammy Heenan, whose father William was shot dead at the remote family farm near Castlewellan in 1985, said he hopes the police action will eventually make it easier for serial abusers to be identified.

Although William Heenan had no connection with the security forces, many of the anonymous Twitter accounts post messages claiming he was in the police or UDR in an attempt to justify his murder.

William Heenan’s death left his only son an orphan at the age of 12.

Speaking after providing a statement to the PSNI on Tuesday, Sammy Heenan said he believes the police are “taking it seriously,” possibly more so because a “high profile politician “ is involved.

He said: “I commend Diane Dodds for the very emotive and very powerful interview she did this morning [on the Nolan Show].

“It has brought it into the public domain once again, and hopefully it will contribute to greater accountability in respect of social media platforms.

“Especially on Twitter, which to me is a very renegade forum. People can remain anonymous if they want to, but they should have to be identifiable in some way so they can be held accountable. You just can’t go on and batter and abuse people, and hit them at their lowest point of grief and pain.”

There was widespread revulsion after the anonymous account posted an abusive response to a photograph of Mrs Dodds, who is married to former DUP MP Nigel Dodds, on New Year’s Eve.

The Twitter troll made a sickening reference to the couple’s son Andrew, who was born with a serious illness and died just before his ninth birthday in 1998.

Speaking on the ‘Nolan Show’, Mrs Dodds described the message as “hugely harmful and hugely hurtful and damaging”.

Mr Heenan said he has been abused for around three years by the Twitter user being investigated.

“Anytime I challenge the republican movement I get a low blow from this particular account.

“Very abusive messages against my father and my family at times. Some of the most hurtful content – all to stifle debate and to deter people from putting their head above the parapet.”

He added: “My father was an innocent 51-year-old Protestant man. He was murdered and all he had in his possession was a meal bucket and his work clothes.

“That is what we are up against, and that is just one troll who has come to prominence because of his attack on Diane Dodds, but I have any number of them.

“But they are not going to deter me, they are not going to put me off Twitter. It is a very powerful and influential forum.

“I am going to remain on it and I am going to stand up for what I see as the innocent people in our society who have suffered grievously at the hands of terrorists.”

A PSNI spokeswoman said: “As the investigation is ongoing, we are unable to comment further.”

READ: Diane Dodds: mocking my son’s death is beyond belief

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