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HEARTBROKEN FIANCE TELLS OF HIS LOVELY, LOVELY ESTHER
By Rosie Cowan

"WHEN they killed her, I died with her. I wish I had been with her, I wish I was with her this minute!" cries Kenneth Hawkes, whose fiancé, Esther Gibson, died in the blast.
It was love at first sight, or as near as makes no difference, when Kenneth and Esther, both 36 years old, met at the Silver Birches hotel on March 9 last year.
Kenneth even remembers the exact time - 11.45pm - when they were first introduced.
They got engaged a few months later on Kenneth's birthday, May 5, and were to be married on Esther's birthday, July 29, next year.
Now, Kenneth has a new anniversary indelibly etched on his heart - August 15, 1998 - one he'll wake in the night remembering - the day Esther was murdered, along with 27 other innocent shoppers passing a Saturday afternoon in Omagh.
The young Beragh woman had everything to look forward to. Esther was to be chief bridesmaid at sister Caroline's wedding in six weeks' time. Then, preparations would start in earnest for her own big day.
On any normal week-end, it wouldn't be hard to imagine Esther's big, happy family - she was the eldest of eleven, five girls and six boys - bustling around their home, a farm outside Beragh, enjoying Sunday lunch, the two brides-to-be gossiping about wedding dresses and planning their future.
Instead, it was a very different scene - a steady stream of stunned friends and relatives, cups of tea and quiet, dignified grief.
"First, it was Caroline's wedding, then we were going to concentrate on our own," says Kenneth, barely able to hold up his head for crying.
"We had an engagement photograph taken and our rings picked out, and we were waiting for planning permission to build a house beside my family farm in Mayne.
Esther was kind, loving, the most generous person I'll ever have the privilege to know.
"She just loved children. She couldn't wait to start a family. We wanted a boy and a girl. She taught Sunday school at Six Mile Cross, and she'd worked in Desmonds for 15 years.
"I wasn't with her, but I heard the explosion and knew she was in town. I tried to phone, and later I found her car in Dunnes car park and my heart turned over. Her shopping bags were still in the back where she'd left them.
"Her father, brother and I started searching and searching, it seemed to be forever, and finally, we were asked to identify her body at 2.30am on Sunday morning.
"I can't even bear to think about the people who did this. The only person on my mind is my Esther, my lovely Esther, the best thing that ever happened to me, and now, this. This is the worst."