‘So very wrong’: UDR families react to amnesty plan

Relatives of UDR soldiers killed as well as veterans gathered in Co Tyrone yesterday to express their opposition to the amnesty plans.

A woman who lost six members of her family urged DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, UUP leader Doug Beattie and TUV leader Jim Allister, who were in attendance at the event, to work together to stop the proposals.

Jennifer Jordan from Co Armagh saw her father Clifford Lundy, a UDR veteran, die after being shot in the back close to their family home in January 1980.

Her and her mother heard the gunfire and run out to find him lying on the ground beside his car as the gunmen fled.

He was one of six of her relatives killed.

She described him as a “good hard working man who helped anyone he could”, adding she is proud he served to protect the community against terrorism.

Ms Jordan said her family feels very badly hurt by the legacy plans.

“My father was murdered and now it seems as if the murderers are not to be punished for it which I think is very wrong,” she said.

“We still have to fight to try and get justice, we can’t just let our folks down that were murdered.

“They have no voice only our voice, we have to fight for them, and if we were doing anything less would we be even human.”

She added: “The government need to get a backbone by honouring these men.”

She said Prime Minister Boris Johnson should have attended the event to listen and, turning to the unionist leaders, she thanked them for coming, but said they need to do more.

“Listening is not enough, we need something further.

“(I) ask you gentlemen to get together and put pressure on the government,” she said.

William Harron from Co Tyrone, a UDR veteran was 19 when his older brother Tommy, 25, a married father of one, also in the UDR, was killed with three colleagues at Ballygawley by a landmine bomb.

He said the government had “stabbed victims in the back” with their legacy proposals.

“They are doing everything wrong, we are the innocent victims, the UDR, man or woman went out and served their country, we didn’t go out to murder anybody,” he said.

“The IRA has done this to our family and to others as well.

“It’s a disgrace, if anyone went out to commit murder they deserve justice and jail.”

Charles Eames, is the nephew of UDR soldier James Eames, 32, who died with a colleague in a car bomb close to Enniskillen in August 1972.

He described the proposed amnesty as “immoral and wrong”.

A case is currently in the justice system in relation to his uncle’s death.

He said for his family, if that hope of justice of “snatched away”, it would be “unacceptable to say the least”.

He said if the proposals go through, then “Boris Johnson and everyone else should hang their heads in shame”.

“There is no worse crime than taking someone’s life, to allow those people to escape justice is inexcusable and is unforgivable,” he said.

Mr Eames, a former police officer, said he served alongside UDR soldiers, and described how they “put their lives on the line on a daily basis”.

“As a retired police officer, I have a strong sense of justice.

“I want to see people held to account for their actions, and if that applies to me in the future, it won’t because I know I have done nothing wrong, but if that applied to me, I would expect to be dealt with accordingly,” he said.

Sammy Brush, a former UDR soldier who survived an attempt to kill him, said he counts himself lucky that he saw justice.

Republican Gerry McGeough was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for his attempted murder in 2011.

He served two years under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

“I can count myself very lucky in that I survived in the first place and got a measure of justice that is denied other people,” he said.

“We have a fight on our hands but we have right on our side, must continue to press for justice no matter how poorly administrated it might be.”

Almost 200 UDR personnel were killed while on duty, while a further 62 were killed after they have left the force.

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