THE family of Frankie McKeown are calling on the public to join them on this weekend's Time for Truth rally at Belfast City Hall.

43-year-old father-of-six Frankie McKeown, a well-known and popular shopkeeper from Andersonstown, was shot by the British Army and fatally wounded on 15 July 1972 on the Shaws Road as he exited his work van to move a wire barricade.

At the time Frankie’s children were aged from 13 to just six months.  In the hours following the incident the British army released two contradictory statements on the shooting. 
 
In the first, they claimed there was a gun battle in progress and that Francis McKeown was one of the gunmen and had been seen carrying a Thompson sub-machine gun before he was shot. In their second statement they apparently retracted the earlier statement by saying they now believed the victim may have been caught in crossfire.
 
Francis’ widow, Marie, issued a statement saying that Francis had never been a member of any illegal organisation or taken part in any illegal activities: “He was rearing six children and working from seven o’clock in the morning to ten every night. My children and I have suffered the terrible loss of a husband and father. 
 
“We feel it wrong that he whose life was so casually taken should now lose also his character and reputation in equally callous fashion.”
 
An inquest into the killing of Frankie McKeown was held in October 1973. None of the soldiers who were involved in the shooting or who witnessed it attended the hearing.

The family say that they have had an unsatisfactory inquest, an unsatisfactory HET report and an unsatisfactory response from the Attorney General with respect to seeking a fresh inquest.
 
Frankie’s son Joe explained: “My mother died without getting any form of justice, she can’t rest in peace and the rest of our family are struggling with their mental health.
We want closure so that we can move on.”

Joe’s brother Terry added: “The British government are wanting us to pass away and hope that it can be brushed over, but our children will carry the whole thing and keep going until we get to the truth."

The McKeown family are asking people to join the Time for Truth rally against the British government’s ‘Bill of Shame’ on Sunday 11 September. 

The rally will leave at 12 noon at Divis Tower, the McGurks Memorial, North Queen Street and Cormac Square before making its way to City Hall.