Niece of murdered man recalls ‘pandemonium’, 50 years on from massacre at Annie's Bar

She was speaking after a meeting between the PSNI and the families of civilians who were killed in the shooting at Annie's Bar in the Top of the Hill area of the city's Waterside, ahead of the 50th anniversary on Tuesday.

On December 20, 1972, UDA gunmen entered Annie's Bar and opened fire - killing five people. They were Barney Kelly, Frank McCarron, Michael McGinley, Charlie McCafferty and Charles Boyd Moore. No-one has ever been convicted in relation to the attack.

The families of four of those murdered met earlier this week with the local PSNI District Commander Nigel Goddard and officers from the Legacy Investigations Branch at the request of the Pat Finucane Centre. In a statement agreed by those involved and issued to the Derry Journal newspaper following the meeting, it was stated: “At the meeting, the PSNI apologised to the families for the lack of engagement by the RUC in the aftermath of the attack."

Speaking to the Journal, the niece of one of the victims shared fond memories of her uncle and recalled the mayhem that ensued at her family home following the massacre. Michael McGinley, a 37-year-old family man who worked in a factory at Maydown outside the city, was famed for his toffee apples, niece Christine said.

"I used to sell them out the back," she recalled. "Everybody loved those toffee apples." “I was always his favourite until his daughter Gillian came along.” Recalling the night her uncle died, she said: "I remember everyone squealing. It was pandemonium. It will never leave my head.

"I was sitting at the top of the stairs and I could hear my uncle Alfie shouting 'Aw Mick...' "I remember the cries of everybody. My uncle Alfie covered in blood at the bottom of the stairs. My aunt Pat squealing...all these sirens. "Alfie told me later on that he died in his arms. Blood was coming out of his mouth. He had been shot in the jugular vein.”

Daughter Christine also spoke to the newspaper, saying: "I was only a wee baby. That would have been their first Christmas with me. I had no memory of it." Earlier that day Michael was spotted carrying a huge Teddy bear wrapped in clear plastic. Gillian said his wife, Patricia, had bought him new shoes he had worn when he was shot.

“My mother went down to the bar. She heard there was the shooting. She knew he was dead. She saw the bodies. She had just bought him new shoes,” Gillian said. Patricia, who is now deceased, carried the hurt with her in her own quiet and stoic way.

"She never remarried, never really spoke about it again,” said Gillian. Christine and Gillian do not believe the victims and their families have ever been close to getting justice. “I don't feel they [authorities] even chased it up,” said Christine.

"A lot of stuff was hidden and brushed under the carpet because of the Troubles.”