Kingsmills pastor '˜threatened' by republicans

Pastor Barrie Halliday, a director of victims’ group Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR), was informed by police that “unknown” republican elements were planning “unspecified” action against him, which could take the form of an attack.

Pastor Halliday believes the threat was made against him due to revelations in the ongoing Kingsmills inquest, adding: “There has been a definite hardening of attitudes in the area recently.”

The inquest into the IRA murder of 10 Protestant workmen at Kingsmill 41 years ago is continuing at Belfast Coroners’ Court.

Pastor Halliday told the News Letter: “With so much focus now on the Kingsmills massacre, it has brought tensions in the area to boil.

“Certain people who would have spoken to me before have stopped and some are turning their backs on me.

“I am an easy target for these people as a I farm and pastor in the area. It is obviously disturbing, but we are not going to be perturbed from going after the truth.”

Pastor Halliday said he was “disappointed by the mindset” of those behind the threat, adding that they “seem determined to deny the families from getting to the truth”.

The pastor previously faced a death threat back in 2012, when he was involved in trying to organise a march along the route taken by the men shot dead by the IRA in 1976.

When asked to comment on the threat against Pastor Halliday, a PSNI spokesperson said: “We do not discuss the security of individuals. However, if we receive information that a person’s life may be at risk we will inform them accordingly.”