Bombing victim was ‘rich in kindness and love’, inquiry told

A 36-year-old woman killed in the Omagh bombing was on ‘the brink of a new life,’ the inquiry into the 1998 attack was told today.

Esther Gibson, who was 36 and from Beragh, was remembered as a Sunday School teacher and a devoted Christian.

She was the eldest of four sisters who had attended the Hutton Primary school in Beragh and Omagh High School.

At the inquiry today at the Strule Arts Centre, her sister, Caroline Martin, read a poem entitled ‘Silent Special Bridesmaid.’

It was written for Caroline’s wedding which took place on October 3, 1998, just weeks after the bombing.

The poem referred to Ms Gibson as a ‘silent, special bridesmaid’ at Ms Martin’s wedding.

The pair had agreed that the younger sister would get married first.

The poem references a bouquet of blue flowers which were left on the communion table on Ms Martin’s wedding day as a tribute to her sister.

It ends: “Broken spirits, shattered dreams, blue ribbons holding together memories, sweet memories that will linger always.”

The inquiry was told that Esther was ‘rich in kindness and love.’

She had worked in the Tyrone County Hospital, before undertaking a career in Desmond and Sons clothing factory on the Kevlin Road in Omagh.

The chairman of the Inquiry, Lord Turnbull, said the Gibson family had suffered a ‘profound loss’ following the death of Esther.

He added that she had been on the brink of a new life.

Lord Turnbull said Ms Gibson was ‘plainly a generous and caring Christian person’ who had ‘a strong sense of community’.

She was a role model for others, he added, through her ‘life and personality’.

Ms Gibson, he said, had been ‘cruelly robbed’ of a new life ‘full of promise and happiness’.