Family marks 50 years since father and daughter killed in Belfast shooting
A man whose father and sister were killed in a case of mistaken identity during the Troubles has said their legacy “will forever live on” on the 50th anniversary of their death.
Jim Kyle, 61, and his daughter Rosaleen, 19, were killed on September 25 1976 when a gunman opened fire on them at their family home in south Belfast.
Mr Kyle was a bank manager at TSB and Ms Kyle had recently graduated from Methodist College and had been accepted to study dentistry at Queen’s University Belfast.
Terence Kyle said his father and “beautiful sister” were “murdered because of hate but they will always be remembered with love”.
“They mattered and no-one ever had the right to extinguish their lives,” he said.
“On this 50th anniversary, and indeed every day, their light shines bright – and their legacy of all that is good will forever live on”.
In a 1977 inquest into their deaths, detectives believed the incident to be a case of mistaken identity arising from Mr Kyle being described as a “chief inspector” in a Belfast street directory, and it was assumed the killers believed him to be a RUC police inspector.