Catholic family quit home -- Stormont Watch

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Date Posted: Sat, Feb 16 2008, 14:20:37 PST
Author: From IPSC Board
Subject: Catholic family quit home

Catholic family to quit home following threats
Posted on February 15, 2008 at 12:03:46 PM by Sean Mac

Catholic family to quit home following threats By Staff reporter
13/02/08

A CATHOLIC family-of-five are quitting the Co Antrim village of Stoneyford after a police warning that loyalists were about to launch a bomb attack on their home.

The bomb threat is the latest act of

loyalist intimidation in the village, which has already forced three Catholic neighbours to leave the area in the last two years.

On Monday night police visited the Catholic family, who were too frightened to be named, to warn them of an imminent loyalist attack on their home.

It is the latest in a series of attacks and death threats against the family.

In December police warned them that loyalists were planning to murder them.

In the same month loyalists attempted to abduct the family�s 13-year-old son as he and a friend walked through the village.

In November part of an engine block was thrown through the living room window of the family�s grandmother�s home in another part of the village.

In July 2006 the family were intimidated from a previous house in another part of Stoneyford.

They are the latest Catholics to have been forced out of Stoneyford in recent years.

In May 2006 two Catholic families fled Stoneyford after sectarian attacks on their homes.

In April 2004 Catholic man Ed Nolan and his fianc�e fled their home in the village after it was attacked eight times in two months.

In the most high-profile case a Catholic-owned bar in the village was forced to close after it was targeted by loyalists 80 times.

In 1999 the personal details of more than 300 nationalists were discovered inside Stoneyford Orange Hall.

In April 1998 Catholic man Ciaran Heffron was shot dead by LVF gunmen in nearby Crumlin.

A prominent loyalist, who is accused of being behind the Stoneyford intimidat-

ion, was arrested and questioned over both incidents but released without charge.

Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson is currently investigating a series of complaints alleging police failures to stop the attacks on Catholics in Stoneyford.

Confirming his family�s decision to quit the village, the father-of-three said: �People in the village want to live together.

�Catholic and Protestant kids mix happily here.

�We had kids from the local Protestant band in our house on a regular basis.

�The ordinary police on the beat know who�s behind this intimidation and want him put behind bars but for some reason he seems to be untouchable.

�I don�t want to leave Stoneyford but I just can�t put my family through any more.�

Chief inspector Paula Hilman said: �The police service are firmly committed to ensure that all communities in Stoneyford can live safely and peacefully.�

A police spokeswoman said it did not comment on the personal security of individuals.

The spokeswoman said anyone with a complaint about the PSNI should contact the police ombudsman.

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