The widow of a murdered RUC officer has been appointed Northern Ireland's first victims commissioner.
Bertha McDougall, who has campaigned for RUC widows, was confirmed yesterday by Northern Secretary Peter Hain as interim commissioner for victims and survivors of the troubles.
The appointment follows on demands for such a commissioner by the DUP and the choice of Ms McDougall is viewed as a confidence-building measure for unionists.
Ms McDougall's husband Lindsay, aged 36, an RUC reservist, was fatally wounded by the INLA in 1981 in Belfast city centre. He was shot as he was checking a suspicious car on Great Victoria Street.
The INLA "supergrass" Harry Kirkpatrick said he was the driver for the killers.
According to the Lost Lives book he named the gunmen as Gerard Steenson, who was later killed in an internal feud, and a 22-year-old man from the Markets area of Belfast.
Ms McDougall, who was left with three children to rear, became active in campaigning on behalf of RUC widows, setting up the victims lobby group Forgotten Families. She is a trustee of the RUC George Cross Foundation and played a pivotal role in improving compensation payments for widows bereaved before 1982.
She was a primary school teacher and later worked for the Council for Curriculum Examinations and Assessment. She has also worked on cross-community educational projects.
Mr Hain said he was delighted Ms McDougall had accepted the appointment.
"Her experience in working with victims and victims support groups will be vital in helping to address the needs of those who have suffered great personal loss. The government believes that the needs of those who have suffered so much over the years must get greater recognition. They must not become the forgotten people," he said.
"Substantial resources have already been provided to individual victims and the self help groups on which many rely for help but I feel that more needs to be done to recognise all the pain and hurt," he added.
Mr Hain said that legislation to establish a commissioner on a longer-term basis would be introduced.
He said Ms McDougall would look at key areas relating to services for victims, funding arrangements in relation to services and grants paid to victims and survivors groups and individual victims and survivors. She would also look at how a victims and survivors forum might be established to provide a focus for discussion for issues affecting those who have suffered.
He expected her to produce a report within a year, he said.
