Shankill bomber campaigns for Finucane in key contest

Kelly, who was freed under the terms of the Belfast Agreement, was jailed for the 1993 bombing of a fish shop in which nine people, including two children, were murdered.

Yesterday Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald was asked if Kelly was canvassing for the party in North Belfast.

In response, she told the Belfast Telegraph: “Activists across the party and hundreds of them will be into North Belfast canvassing to elect John Finucane, yes.”

Former Ulster Unionist councillor and mayor of Newtownabbey John Scott told BBC Radio Ulster’s Nolan Show that he had witnessed Kelly campaigning for Sinn Fein.

“That is not showing respect and equality to the unionist community,” Mr Scott said, “especially to the people on the Shankill Road.”

It is not the first time that Kelly has campaigned for Mr Finucane, who is now the lord mayor of Belfast.

In 2017, the convicted bomber was knocking doors and leafleting in the constituency.

At the time, Sinn Fein MLA John O’Dowd said: “Sean Kelly is out canvassing to promote politics and the peace process.”

However, a victim of the bomb said at the time that what he was doing was “disgusting”.