Website depicting Troubles victim shut down

A website mocking the death of a Protestant teenager killed at a flashpoint area of Belfast has been shut down, it emerged today…

A website mocking the death of a Protestant teenager killed at a flashpoint area of Belfast has been shut down, it emerged today.

A US-based Internet provider agreed to remove the site, which showed a doctored photograph of Thomas McDonald, with the words "stunt cyclist" beside it.

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When a family finds itself in a position where a sentence for the killing of their child was such an insult that it would have been better if there had been no trial, then something is wrong
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McDonald family campaign spokesman

A campaign has begun to persuade the Attorney General to impose a tougher sentence on the woman who drove at the 16-year-old, knocking him off his bike in the Whitewell area of north Belfast.

Alison McKeown (33) was given a two-year jail term last month after being found guilty of his manslaughter. Outside the court, the family described the sentence as a joke.

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A campaign spokesman said today that the family still did not believe justice had been done.

"We feel the judge should have handed down a sentence which was more of a deterrent to other people who might commit the same type of crime.

"When a family finds itself in a position where a sentence for the killing of their child was such an insult that it would have been better if there had been no trial, then something is wrong," he said.

A rally is due to take place in north Belfast tomorrow as campaigners step up their bid for support for a review of the case.

PA