Troubles amnesty: ‘This government has stabbed victims in the back’ says former UDR man whose big brother was killed by IRA

A former Ulster Defence Regiment soldier who lost his big brother to the IRA has said that the Tory government has “stabbed victims in the back” by pursuing a blanket Troubles amnesty.
By Adam Kula
Published 28th Oct 2021, 21:35 BST
Updated 28th Oct 2021, 22:00 BST
Former UDR member William Harron, holds a photograph of his brother Thomas Harron, also a UDR member, who was killed during the Troubles, as he attends an event at Corick House, Clogher, Co. Tyrone, for former UDR members and families of UDR soldiers killed during the Troubles, in relation to a proposed statute of limitations on future prosecutions for crimes committed during the conflict. Picture date: Thursday October 28, 2021. The Government announced in July plans for a statute of limitations that would end all prosecutions for Troubles incidents up to April 1998. PA Photo. See PA story ULSTER Legacy Victims. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA WireFormer UDR member William Harron, holds a photograph of his brother Thomas Harron, also a UDR member, who was killed during the Troubles, as he attends an event at Corick House, Clogher, Co. Tyrone, for former UDR members and families of UDR soldiers killed during the Troubles, in relation to a proposed statute of limitations on future prosecutions for crimes committed during the conflict. Picture date: Thursday October 28, 2021. The Government announced in July plans for a statute of limitations that would end all prosecutions for Troubles incidents up to April 1998. PA Photo. See PA story ULSTER Legacy Victims. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire
Former UDR member William Harron, holds a photograph of his brother Thomas Harron, also a UDR member, who was killed during the Troubles, as he attends an event at Corick House, Clogher, Co. Tyrone, for former UDR members and families of UDR soldiers killed during the Troubles, in relation to a proposed statute of limitations on future prosecutions for crimes committed during the conflict. Picture date: Thursday October 28, 2021. The Government announced in July plans for a statute of limitations that would end all prosecutions for Troubles incidents up to April 1998. PA Photo. See PA story ULSTER Legacy Victims. Photo credit should read: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

William Harron’s sibling Tommy was one of four men fatally blown up in an explosion on the main Ballygawley–Omagh road on July 13, 1983.

Mr Harron was one of a number of ex-UDR men who gathered in Co Tyrone today in protest against proposals to end investigations into all such killings.

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Among those speaking at the gathering in Clogher today was Kenny Donaldson, one of the leaders of the South East Fermanagh Foundation, which lobbies for the relatives of civilians and security service members who were killed by paramilitaries.

He announced that if such an amnesty does indeed come into being, it will be “the final corruption of the criminal justice process” – tantamount to “murdering justice” itself.

Meanwhile, Mr Harron said: “They’re doing everything wrong. We’re the innocent victims. The UDR, man or woman, went out and served their country. We didn’t go out to murder anybody.”

Tommy Harron was aged 25, was married and had one child when the roughly 600lb (272kg) bomb killed him.

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The other dead are listed in ‘Lost Lives’ as Oswell Neely (20, married, one child), Ronald Alexander, 19, and John Roxborough, also 19.

All four were just a small part of the UDR’s roll of 196 members who were killed, according to Ulster University’s CAIN death toll project.

Added to that are another 40 ex-members, and seven members of its successor regiment, the RIR.

By contrast, the UDR killed eight people (three of whom were paramilitaries).

Full report in Friday’s News Letter.

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