Anger over continued attacks on Teebane massacre memorial

MORE than 30 years after eight men were murdered by the IRA on their way home from work, a memorial to the Teebane massacre continues to be periodically vandalised.

No-one has ever been charged with the 1992 attack, which saw eight workmen killed by a 600lb roadside bomb shortly after their bus left Lisnelly British Army barracks in Omagh.

Those who died were Gary Bleeks (25), Cecil Caldwell (37), Robert Dunseath (25), Oswald Gilchrist (44), David Harkness (23), Bobby Irons (61) Richard McConnell (38) and Nigel McKee (22).

Six others were injured.

In 2023, Jean Caldwell, wife of Teebane victim Cecil Caldwell, called on the Chief Constable to ‘put us out of our misery and get these people to justice’.

Last year, regional victims’ group, South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF), promised to continue their search for answers, using the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Truth Recovery (ICRIR), the new body established by the Legacy Act, to investigate Troubles-era crimes.

However, following Keir Starmer’s Labour Government’s official proposal in December to repeal the widely reviled Legacy Act, it is now unclear how those seeking justice should best pursue it.

Thirty-three years on from the atrocity, Glenn Moore, a TUV member from the Mid Ulster area, said:  “(Teebane) is one of the most infamous atrocities committed by the IRA. Even by republicanism’s depraved standards, the killing of men while they were returning from their employment stands out as particularly horrendous.

“More than three decades on it remains the case that no-one has ever been charged in relation to this massacre.

“In stark contrast to other cases, there is no prospect of a Police Ombudsman’s report or even significant media interest in the suffering of the families.

“However, their dignity and determination to remember their loved ones demands respect and the shocking failure to hold the murderers to account still demands action.

“The fact that the memorial to the atrocity has repeatedly come under attack and needs the protection which has been installed around it is a stain on the reputation of the area,” Mr Moore added.

The annual Teebane memorial service took place last Sunday at the memorial stone located on the Cookstown-Omagh road.