CALLERS SUPPORT GRIEF-STRICKEN POLICE OFFICER
Callers support grief-stricken, police officer
By Nevin Farrell
THE Northern Ireland public yesterday rallied around an RUC officer who was said to have been traumatised and consumed by "self-imposed guilt" after he unwittingly helped to move people into the path of the Omagh bomb.
BBC Radio Ulster listeners yesterday heard a report that one of the officers who was acting on the false details supplied about the location of Saturday's car bomb felt he would never recover from the tragedy.
A man describing himself as a former policeman rang the George Jones Show asking if George - who visited Omagh with his wife Hillary on Wednesday night - could say a few words of comfort for the suffering officer and his colleagues.
George - who experienced terror at first hand when he survived the Abercorn bomb blast in Belfast in the 1970s - said he was sure that the community was behind the police officers.
A BBC spokesman described the response as "phenomenal" with hundreds of people jamming switchboards in a massive gesture of support for the officers. All said the police were only doing their job and were in no way to blame.
George Jones said he was "moved and overwhelmed" by the item and indeed by all the comments received by his programme since the August 15 blast.
He revealed that during his trip to Omagh he was reminded that he had once played one of his surprise calls on one of the bomb victims, Geraldine Breslin.
The BBC spokesman added that all Radio Ulster's presenters have been swamped with calls on the massacre and that the "tone" of programmes changed accordingly.
By Nevin Farrell
THE Northern Ireland public yesterday rallied around an RUC officer who was said to have been traumatised and consumed by "self-imposed guilt" after he unwittingly helped to move people into the path of the Omagh bomb.
BBC Radio Ulster listeners yesterday heard a report that one of the officers who was acting on the false details supplied about the location of Saturday's car bomb felt he would never recover from the tragedy.
A man describing himself as a former policeman rang the George Jones Show asking if George - who visited Omagh with his wife Hillary on Wednesday night - could say a few words of comfort for the suffering officer and his colleagues.
George - who experienced terror at first hand when he survived the Abercorn bomb blast in Belfast in the 1970s - said he was sure that the community was behind the police officers.
A BBC spokesman described the response as "phenomenal" with hundreds of people jamming switchboards in a massive gesture of support for the officers. All said the police were only doing their job and were in no way to blame.
George Jones said he was "moved and overwhelmed" by the item and indeed by all the comments received by his programme since the August 15 blast.
He revealed that during his trip to Omagh he was reminded that he had once played one of his surprise calls on one of the bomb victims, Geraldine Breslin.
The BBC spokesman added that all Radio Ulster's presenters have been swamped with calls on the massacre and that the "tone" of programmes changed accordingly.
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0150
Published Date: 21-Aug-98
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