SICK HOAXERS TARGET A NUMBER OF GRIEVING OMAGH FAMILIES
Sick hoaxers target number of grieving Omagh families
BY: ADRIAN MULLAN
'Sad, pathetic people calling from their bedsits in London'
LOCAL families bereaved in the Carnival Day bomb have had the added burden of having to deal with letters and telephone calls from cruel hoaxers, it was revealed this week.
One of those targeted by hoaxers, was Lawrence Rushe, whose wife Elizabeth (Libby) died in the bombing.
Lawrence said that the first of the letters arrived on the day of his wife's funeral, when the hoaxer claimed to know the identity of the bombers, since then, there have been other letters, and telephone calls to the family home.
In the first letter there was so much detail, that initially the family did not know whether or not it was a hoax, however, since then other communications, have confirmed that hoaxers are indeed at work.
Describing those responsible as 'sad little people' Lawrence said he could envisage the author of the letters sitting in a one-bedroom flat somewhere in London or Birmingham knowing that the only mail he was likely to receive was the electric bill.
Although he was not perturbed by the letters and gave the telephone callers short shrift, he did say that, initially, he had thought there may have been a grain of truth in one of the letters. He said that his only concern was that the letters would divert the police from following real leads.
He confirmed that what the telephone callers had said was mostly rubbish, so much so, that he thought the person responsible was on drugs.
"I know the type of people around, I can just imagine sitting in their one bed-roomed flat leading their wee sad lives. It didn't bother me, I was expecting something like this."
He said he was sure that the person/persons responsible was intending to cause further hurt to the bereaved families.
Expressing sorrow that the families of the children from Buncrana had received sick calls asking for the deceased children he said his thoughts were with them, and he confirmed that he had passed on the hoax letters to the police.
Alex Hughes, father of Julia Hughes, said that thankfully, he had not received any hoax letters, and described the hoaxers as 'sick'.
Police in Omagh have said that they are investigating the incident.
In a separate development, the parish priest of Buncrana described those making hoax calls to bereaved families as 'evil' and 'satanic'.
One hoax caller had been plaguing the McLaughlin and Doherty families, whose children Sean and Oran were killed in the blast.
The caller had speak to the boys, and seemed so plausible that John McLaughlin, father of Sean, thought they were genuine until he heard that the Doherty family receiving similar calls. He said that the calls had intruded upon the family's grief and prevented them from starting on the road to recovery.
Gardai have vowed to leave 'no stone unturned' in their efforts to find the hoax caller.
A gardai spokesman said that the entire community was disgusted and sickened by the calls.
BY: ADRIAN MULLAN
'Sad, pathetic people calling from their bedsits in London'
LOCAL families bereaved in the Carnival Day bomb have had the added burden of having to deal with letters and telephone calls from cruel hoaxers, it was revealed this week.
One of those targeted by hoaxers, was Lawrence Rushe, whose wife Elizabeth (Libby) died in the bombing.
Lawrence said that the first of the letters arrived on the day of his wife's funeral, when the hoaxer claimed to know the identity of the bombers, since then, there have been other letters, and telephone calls to the family home.
In the first letter there was so much detail, that initially the family did not know whether or not it was a hoax, however, since then other communications, have confirmed that hoaxers are indeed at work.
Describing those responsible as 'sad little people' Lawrence said he could envisage the author of the letters sitting in a one-bedroom flat somewhere in London or Birmingham knowing that the only mail he was likely to receive was the electric bill.
Although he was not perturbed by the letters and gave the telephone callers short shrift, he did say that, initially, he had thought there may have been a grain of truth in one of the letters. He said that his only concern was that the letters would divert the police from following real leads.
He confirmed that what the telephone callers had said was mostly rubbish, so much so, that he thought the person responsible was on drugs.
"I know the type of people around, I can just imagine sitting in their one bed-roomed flat leading their wee sad lives. It didn't bother me, I was expecting something like this."
He said he was sure that the person/persons responsible was intending to cause further hurt to the bereaved families.
Expressing sorrow that the families of the children from Buncrana had received sick calls asking for the deceased children he said his thoughts were with them, and he confirmed that he had passed on the hoax letters to the police.
Alex Hughes, father of Julia Hughes, said that thankfully, he had not received any hoax letters, and described the hoaxers as 'sick'.
Police in Omagh have said that they are investigating the incident.
In a separate development, the parish priest of Buncrana described those making hoax calls to bereaved families as 'evil' and 'satanic'.
One hoax caller had been plaguing the McLaughlin and Doherty families, whose children Sean and Oran were killed in the blast.
The caller had speak to the boys, and seemed so plausible that John McLaughlin, father of Sean, thought they were genuine until he heard that the Doherty family receiving similar calls. He said that the calls had intruded upon the family's grief and prevented them from starting on the road to recovery.
Gardai have vowed to leave 'no stone unturned' in their efforts to find the hoax caller.
A gardai spokesman said that the entire community was disgusted and sickened by the calls.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/0263
Published Date: 03-Sep-98
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