Teenage boy killed in Omagh bomb ‘radiated light’, says sister
Teenage boy killed in Omagh bomb ‘radiated light’, says sister
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A teenage boy killed in the Omagh bomb has been remembered by his sister as “radiating light”. The sister of Alan Radford, 16, described him as having “no malice, not a bad bone in his body”. Claire Hayes gave an emotional tribute to her brother at the Omagh Bombing Inquiry in the Co Tyrone town on the second day of commemorative statements to the 29 victims and those affected.
During her evidence to the probe she also shared remarks from the rest of her family, including from her sister Elaine who said their family had been broken beyond repair by Alan’s murder, adding: “There is no way of healing our hearts.”. The teenager had been in Omagh with his mother to help her with the shopping, and was also set to open a bank account as he prepared for the next stage of his life.
The inquiry heard his family received his GCSE results days after his death and how he had been due to go to catering college. Ms Hayes, who is just six months younger than Alan, said they had been very close, describing him as her “other half”. “Me and Alan were so close in age that everything in life we shared… we walked down the road to school together, we came home together, we shared every part of our life,” she told the inquiry.
“He had named me Sissa, just Alan’s wee way of speaking to me.”. She also paid tribute to his dedication to their mother, helping her with the grocery shopping every week, and even taking her to see the movie Titanic in the cinema which he had been really excited about.
