'My dad was worth something': Memorial service to be held 50 years after man was murdered by the IRA

John McCready, who was aged 56 at the time, was shot at close range when walking home in north Belfast on January 27, 1976.

He tragically died ten days later at the Royal Victoria Hospital on February 6, 1976.

Mr McCready was a drummer with the Cleland Memorial Pipe Band for many years and a member of the Orange Lodge and Masonic fraternity.

Nobody has ever been convicted for the murder and Mr McCready’s son, Martyn, outlined how it impacted his mum and his strengthened his quest for justice.

He said: “My mum suffered a lot and she never truly recovered from what had happened, it was hard to make sense of, life was just viewed so cheaply, good and honourable people were cut down so needlessly and without any care for the devastated lives left to somehow try to pick up the pieces.

"She had recurrent nightmares, she regularly sobbed, she and my dad were a couple who were deeply in love with one another.

"I have just turned 80 years myself but my yearning for justice and accountability hasn't waned, my dad was worth something, the cost of his murder was high.

"No husband, no father, no father-in-law, no granda, no brother, no uncle, no son...and the killer remains free and has not been held accountable for their heinous actions.”

The memorial service for Mr McCready will be held at Bangor Abbey this Friday (February 6) at 7.30pm.