No legacy inquest for Poppy Day bomb victims

An application for a fresh inquest into the Enniskillen Poppy Day bomb has been turned down by Attorney General John Larkin.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Survivor Jim Dixon said he spearheaded the application, supported by law firm KRW Law, along with other families of the deceased.

The IRA bomb killed 12 people and injured 63 others at the town’s cenotaph on November 8 in 1987.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mr Dixon said that what “sparked” the application was the resurgence in the press in recent days of reports about an anonymous letter to the Irish government, purporting to come from an MI5 agent, which claimed the UK was complicit in the bombing.

Enniskillen Poppy Day bomb survivor Jim Dixon recovered from extreme injuries, inculding multiple fractures of the skull.Enniskillen Poppy Day bomb survivor Jim Dixon recovered from extreme injuries, inculding multiple fractures of the skull.
Enniskillen Poppy Day bomb survivor Jim Dixon recovered from extreme injuries, inculding multiple fractures of the skull.

“We know the British government was involved in the bomb and has been up to their neck in it for 30 years,” Mr Dixon said. The aim of the application was “to get the government to own up to the truth” he added.

Veteran BBC Troubles journalist Peter Taylor has claimed that Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness was involved in the planning of the bombing. Some victims have alleged that investigations were later soft-pedaled because of his subsequent central role in the peace process.

But Mr Dixon goes further and believes that the UK authorities were themselves actively involved in the bombing.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The British government was aware of the bomb being planted and in my opinion was involved in the bomb itself,” he said. As evidence to support his belief, he says the police investigation into the matter “was closed within four weeks” and that he has letters from Republic of Ireland authorities saying they had information on the bomb in 1988 but that the British government was “not interested”.

In a statement, Fermanagh victims group SEFF said it advocates for “the overwhelming majority” of the bereaved but is “neither party to nor privy to the Inquest Application”.