A teenage boy killed in the Omagh bombing has been remembered by his sister as “radiating light”.
The sister of Alan Radford (16) described him as having “no malice, not a bad bone in his body”.
Claire Hayes gave an emotional tribute to her brother at the Omagh bombing inquiry in the Co Tyrone town on the second day of commemorative statements to the 29 victims and those affected by the August 15th, 1998, Real IRA bomb.
During her evidence Ms Hayes also shared remarks from the rest of her family, including from her sister Elaine who said their family had been broken beyond repair by Alan’s murder, adding: “There is no way of healing our hearts.”
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The teenager had been in Omagh with his mother to help her with the shopping, and was also set to open a bank account as he prepared for the next stage of his life.
The inquiry heard his family received his GCSE results days after his death and how he had been due to go to catering college.
Ms Hayes, who is six months younger than Alan, said they had been very close, describing him as her “other half”.
“Me and Alan were so close in age that everything in life we shared… we walked down the road to school together, we came home together, we shared every part of our life,” she told the inquiry.
“He had named me Sissa, just Alan’s wee way of speaking to me.”
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She also paid tribute to his dedication to their mother, helping her with the grocery shopping every week, and even taking her to see the movie Titanic in the cinema which he had been really excited about.
“Other teenage boys would have been out with friends or mucking out at the park, Alan had so much dedication to our mother that he went every Saturday with her into the town to help her carry the shopping home,” she said.
Ms Hayes described her brother as being full of “immense love” with a “caring nature”.
“It’s like he was the ray of sunshine, the light just shone out of that boy,” she said.
“He had the purest heart, heart of gold and the clarity and innocence he had was like the purest form of a diamond you could ever get.
“He was so loving, so compassionate with everybody. He had no malice, not a bad bone in his body, just wanted a better life for not only himself but for everybody else who was around him.”
She said his compassion went beyond their family to helping their neighbours, even cutting lawns despite having an allergy to grass.
Ms Hayes recalled the last time she ever saw her brother getting ready to go into Omagh with their mother.
“I said ‘Alan, remember to get your hair cut today, number two around the sides and get it cut on top, and for God’s sake remember to buy gel’, he said, ‘yeah, okay Sissa, I love you, I’ll see you later’,” she recalled.
“I watched them walking up the path… that was the last time I ever seen him alive.”
The inquiry also heard a statement by his teacher Carol Porter at Gibson Primary School who recalled Alan’s infectious smile, love for his family and sense of humour.
In December 1997 he returned on work placement to help her in the school, saying she was “absolutely delighted” to have him back, saying he had helped in every way leading up to the Christmas show.
Ms Porter said when she became aware Alan had been murdered in the bomb she felt a horrendous feeling of absolute shock for days.
“It turned into total sadness and anger, [what] did Alan and all the other innocent victims do, what did they do to deserve that, absolutely nothing.
“I will never forget going back to school 10 days after the bomb and just broke down into tears, the memories of Alan as a child and much more recently in the previous December just came flooding in.
“It was something that haunts me and it will live with me forever.”
Inquiry chairman Alan Turnbull thanked Ms Hayes for coming to the inquiry and speaking “so eloquently” about Alan as a “much loved and loving son, brother and uncle”.
The second youngest victim of the Omagh bomb had been due to be a flower girl at her uncle’s wedding when she was killed in the blast, the inquiry heard.
Breda Devine, who was 20 months old, had been with her mother on a shopping trip to the centre of the Co Tyrone town on the afternoon of the bombing.
In a statement from her family read to the inquiry, it was recalled that the toddler from Donemana had been born three months prematurely, had “clung to life in hospital, and had grown to be a healthy little girl”.
She had been due to be the flower girl at the wedding of her uncle and his fiancee the following weekend.
“The reason the family were in Omagh town centre was for Breda’s mother to buy a wedding present for Breda’s uncle and some shoes for Breda to wear at the wedding,” the statement read.
“Breda was the second youngest victim of the bomb and her funeral took place at St Mary’s Church, Aughnabrack. She was given a guard of honour by the GAA team her family were a part of.” – PA
