An investigation into the deaths of a father and son who were attacked while out delivering milk in Belfast more than 40 years ago has been launched by Northern Ireland’s Troubles legacy body.
The Independent Commission for the Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) has appealed for witnesses to the 1981 attack on 45-year-old milkman Eric Guiney and his 14-year-old son Desmond.
The ICRIR said it wanted to “find the truth of what happened to Eric and Desmond” and their inquiry followed a request from their family.
Posters will be distributed and a leaflet drop organised in the area related to the investigation, the ICRIR said.
RM Block
The Guineys were attacked during rioting which followed the death of Bobby Sands on hunger strike in the early hours of May 5th, 1981.
Desmond loved helping his father on the morning milk round, and was extremely popular with the customers.
“Everybody loved Desmond – he was always such a jolly wee boy, and would have given you the coat off his back,” his mother Roberta told the Belfast Telegraph in 1981.
“Once, when they changed part of the milk round, the customers phoned up Dale Farm to ask them to put Desmond back.”
Just after 6am, the father and son were travelling along the Antrim Road in north Belfast when their vehicle was attacked with stones and missiles.
Mrs Guiney told newspapers at the time that her husband “had the window down – he always drove with the window down” and “the stones came through the window and hit him on the head.”
The milk lorry collided with a concrete lamp post on the Antrim Road at its junction with Duncairn Avenue, opposite the New Lodge Road.
Desmond died of his injuries three days later, and Eric on May 13th, the day after his son’s funeral.
The ICRIR’s Assistant Commissioner, Amanda Logan, who is leading the ICRIR’s investigations team, appealed for anyone with information to come forward.
“The Commission is committed to delivering for all those who have come to us for help, and today the family of Eric and Desmond are uppermost in our thoughts,” Ms Logan said.
“Any information you may hold, no matter how inconsequential it may seem, could be of critical importance to uncovering the truth.
“If you know anything about the circumstances that led to the deaths of Eric and Desmond, please share it with the Commission. All information will be treated in the strictest confidence,” she said.
Ms Logan said the Guiney family “has waited more than four decades to learn the truth of what happened that day.
“At the Commission we will help them in every way we can, and I appeal to the public to assist us in this work,” she said.
The ICRIR was set up as a result of the Legacy Act passed by the former UK Conservative government, which aimed to “draw a line under the past” by ending criminal and civil prosecutions and inquests and replacing their investigations with the new body.
The legislation was widely opposed and its most controversial provision, that of a conditional amnesty for perpetrators, was dropped after it was found by a court to be in breach of human rights law.
The current Labour government pledged to repeal the “failed” Legacy Act, and legislation to replace it is making its way through the Commons following the agreement by the Irish and British governments of a new joint framework on legacy issues in September.
The ICRIR is dealing with around 100 investigations involving about 200 deaths, which will transfer to the new Legacy Commission when it is set up.
Anyone with information can contact the ICRIR on +44 (0) 2890 362093 or email witnessappeals@icrir.independent-inquiry.uk
