THEY WERE SOAKED IN BLOOD
THEY WERE SOAKED IN BLOOD AND CALLING FOR ME TO HELP
A YOUNG policeman who was just 12 weeks out of training college when the Omagh bomb exploded yesterday recalled the horror of the carnage.
And the policewoman closest to the bomb was allowed to give her evidence in statement form after it was revealed she was still receiving medical treatment.
New recruit Constable Gary McClatchey, his voice often breaking with emotion, told the inquest into the Real IRA murders of 29 people in the August 1998: "I heard a loud dull thud, shop shutters rattled and glass shattered.
"I knew immediately it was Market Street where I had ushered people to go. I could see a plume of smoke."
He ran to the scene, he said, adding: "Men and women were crying, soaked in blood, calling out to me.
"I saw a male person lying faceup in the middle of the road. He had ginger short hair, and appeared dead and had serious facial injuries.
"I saw a burning engine block and ran to it and saw a young girl with long hair trapped under it."
The girl was Pauline Green, 19.
He and other officers managed to move the engine after Constable McClatchey had tried to lift it himself.
Ms Green was one of the last victims to be allowed out of hospital. Doctors fought hard to save her limbs but had to amputate her left leg below the knee.
As she was being released from hospital, she said: "The young policeman who lifted the engine block off me saved my life. I could never thank him enough."
Constable McClatchey said the street was strewn with injured people.
He told the inquest in Omagh Leisure Complex that he tended a young girl outside a shop.
"She was lying under rubble and with the help of Constable Palmer. I dug her out. She was alive but unconscious.
"I gave her first aid as best I could and opened her air way and made her comfortable.
"She had a very weak pulse, there was a lot of blood coming from her side and the top of her head. Her head injury appeared very serious."
The policeman said the injured girl was later identified as Debra Ann Cartwright, 20.
The officer set her gently on to a door and loaded it into the back of a police car which took her to hospital where she was found to be dead.
There were small images that will stay in his mind forever. Ms Cartwright had "swarthy skin, her toenails were pained black, she wore a wrist watch and wore rings".
Coroner John Leckey thanked him for his evidence and said: "You were only 12 weeks out of training college. This was a baptism of fire with a vengeance."
Another officer, Constable James Morrell, said: "I saw a young boy on his back in the middle of the road. He had puncture wounds to his stomach and injuries to the back of his head. His hair was badly singed.
"I asked him his name but he just said: 'I Spanish. I Spanish.'
"I applied field dressings to his wounds and got passers-by to keep pressure on them until help arrived."
After treating other victims, he ran out of dressings and ran to Boots chemist where he grabbed cloth nappies and packs of Huggies disposable nappies, handing them out to volunteers who had a stretcher. The policewoman closest to the bomb, Tara McBurney, was allowed to give her evidence in statement form after a medical report was read.
She said she and a colleague, Constable Alan Palmer, set up a moving cordon and "worked down Market Street, clearing premises as we went, moving people along with the tape.
"People in general were very reluctant to move and I had to constantly push and shove them physically to keep them moving away from the courthouse," the statement said.
She said she looked down the street for a colleague and saw him "standing ... surrounded by dead bodies and body parts. Everybody was screaming and hysterical and covered in blood".
Constable Alan Palmer carried on helping the injured for hours despite suffering back injuries that needed 27 stitches.
At one stage he began searching through rubble after someone shouted: "Where's the baby that was in that buggy?"
After the hearing adjourned for the day, Michael Gallagher whose son Adrian was killed, said: "We were hearing for the first time of the courage of some of the police officers like the constable who declined treatment for himself to allow others to be looked after."
A YOUNG policeman who was just 12 weeks out of training college when the Omagh bomb exploded yesterday recalled the horror of the carnage.
And the policewoman closest to the bomb was allowed to give her evidence in statement form after it was revealed she was still receiving medical treatment.
New recruit Constable Gary McClatchey, his voice often breaking with emotion, told the inquest into the Real IRA murders of 29 people in the August 1998: "I heard a loud dull thud, shop shutters rattled and glass shattered.
"I knew immediately it was Market Street where I had ushered people to go. I could see a plume of smoke."
He ran to the scene, he said, adding: "Men and women were crying, soaked in blood, calling out to me.
"I saw a male person lying faceup in the middle of the road. He had ginger short hair, and appeared dead and had serious facial injuries.
"I saw a burning engine block and ran to it and saw a young girl with long hair trapped under it."
The girl was Pauline Green, 19.
He and other officers managed to move the engine after Constable McClatchey had tried to lift it himself.
Ms Green was one of the last victims to be allowed out of hospital. Doctors fought hard to save her limbs but had to amputate her left leg below the knee.
As she was being released from hospital, she said: "The young policeman who lifted the engine block off me saved my life. I could never thank him enough."
Constable McClatchey said the street was strewn with injured people.
He told the inquest in Omagh Leisure Complex that he tended a young girl outside a shop.
"She was lying under rubble and with the help of Constable Palmer. I dug her out. She was alive but unconscious.
"I gave her first aid as best I could and opened her air way and made her comfortable.
"She had a very weak pulse, there was a lot of blood coming from her side and the top of her head. Her head injury appeared very serious."
The policeman said the injured girl was later identified as Debra Ann Cartwright, 20.
The officer set her gently on to a door and loaded it into the back of a police car which took her to hospital where she was found to be dead.
There were small images that will stay in his mind forever. Ms Cartwright had "swarthy skin, her toenails were pained black, she wore a wrist watch and wore rings".
Coroner John Leckey thanked him for his evidence and said: "You were only 12 weeks out of training college. This was a baptism of fire with a vengeance."
Another officer, Constable James Morrell, said: "I saw a young boy on his back in the middle of the road. He had puncture wounds to his stomach and injuries to the back of his head. His hair was badly singed.
"I asked him his name but he just said: 'I Spanish. I Spanish.'
"I applied field dressings to his wounds and got passers-by to keep pressure on them until help arrived."
After treating other victims, he ran out of dressings and ran to Boots chemist where he grabbed cloth nappies and packs of Huggies disposable nappies, handing them out to volunteers who had a stretcher. The policewoman closest to the bomb, Tara McBurney, was allowed to give her evidence in statement form after a medical report was read.
She said she and a colleague, Constable Alan Palmer, set up a moving cordon and "worked down Market Street, clearing premises as we went, moving people along with the tape.
"People in general were very reluctant to move and I had to constantly push and shove them physically to keep them moving away from the courthouse," the statement said.
She said she looked down the street for a colleague and saw him "standing ... surrounded by dead bodies and body parts. Everybody was screaming and hysterical and covered in blood".
Constable Alan Palmer carried on helping the injured for hours despite suffering back injuries that needed 27 stitches.
At one stage he began searching through rubble after someone shouted: "Where's the baby that was in that buggy?"
After the hearing adjourned for the day, Michael Gallagher whose son Adrian was killed, said: "We were hearing for the first time of the courage of some of the police officers like the constable who declined treatment for himself to allow others to be looked after."
Further Information
Publisher: THE MIRROR
Ref: TM/119
Published Date: 12-Sep-00
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