THE son of a man murdered in the 1992 Sean Graham bookmakers massacre says events at last Friday’s annual memorial service should never have happened.

Tommy Duffin's father Jack (66) was one of the five people murdered in the UFF attack on the Ormeau Road in Belfast on February 5 1992. Jack Duffin was gunned down along with Peter Magee (18), James Kennedy (15), Christy Doherty (51) and William McManus (54).

During last Friday’s memorial service, Mark Sykes, who survived the attack and was shot seven times was arrested by police. He was later released. One police officer has been “suspended” and another “re-positioned” following the incident.

Tommy, who attended the memorial and wreath-laying service told the Andersonstown News that police should not have been present in the first place.

“Anger isn’t a good enough word for it. People are asking me how it happened and to be honest, no one knows how. It just seemed to happen out of the blue,” he explained.

“The two cops appeared and hung about until the end of the service and decided they were going to start taking names and finding out who were the organisers. 

“The bottom line is the police should not have been there. One of them was hell bent on arresting Mark Sykes. We were hoping that they would see sense in the end but that didn’t happen.

“We don’t get angry at these things anymore because it’s got to the stage we have to fight for justice in another way. There seems to be an agenda or a motive in this case.

“Friday was our 29th year of the sort of same thing and remembering the deaths of our loved ones, albeit the numbers this year was a lot less, understandably. The last thing we thought we were going to get on Friday was that sort of hassle. Nothing has happened in the other 28 years.

QUESTIONS: Tommy Duffin at the memorial on the Ormeau Road
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QUESTIONS: Tommy Duffin at the memorial on the Ormeau Road

“We were socially distanced and all wearing masks. These two cops at no stage mentioned Covid so what were they doing there? They stood and hung about until it was over and they got their notebooks out.

“Mark and a few others told them to take themselves off in no uncertain terms. We told them the organisers were the families and that should have been that. They then targeted Mark and wanted to get him arrested. We wanted to stay calm and not do anything stupid like get arrested for assault because that’s what these cops wanted.

“I am beyond angry and just asking why did it happen? There is something behind this and we are always looking at something else, like an agenda because we have become so used to it.

“On any other day, there would have been a different outcome. But this was the day of the anniversary of my father’s death. I just can’t get my head around why they were there.”

Tommy believes the PSNI have “backed themselves into a corner” following the incident and has repeated calls from the families to have a report published into the atrocity without further delays. The PSNI have held back documents relating to the attack from the Police Ombudsman who was investigating allegations of collusion between the RUC, other state actors and the perpetrators. 

“The only place we can go from here is down a legal route. The Chief Constable wants to meet us but we do not want to meet him until he comes back to us with a guarantee to every family that gathered on Friday that there will be no charges against anyone. 

“We also want to use this as a stepping stone in our fight for truth. They need to get our report published as promptly as they can without any further delays. We have been told three different dates in the past year. My feeling is that they are hiding something and they know we have the facts.

“I don’t think the PSNI are prepared to take any responsibility for their Special Branch being involved in this [the massacre].

“The police know this incident on Friday has put them in a very dark place as far as policing is concerned. Even Unionists have jumped on board which seems to be to cover up the Pitt Park incident last week.

“The police have realised they have made a massive mistake. They are in a corner and can’t get out of it.

“I don’t really see what the Chief Constable can say if we meet with him. It will only be an apology of some sort like a publicity exercise for them. It beggars belief what happened on Friday.

“We, the Sean Graham families are a tight-knit group and we won’t give up in our fight for justice.”