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narcisbolgor-blog · 6 years ago

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‘The day that changed my home town forever’

Image copyright PA

Image caption Twenty-nine people, including a woman pregnant with twins, were killed in the 1998 attack

When you ask people about Omagh, what is their first thought?

For most people it is 15 August, 1998, when a car bomb killed 29 people - including a woman pregnant with twins- in the centre of the town. For me, Omagh is home.

That Saturday started like any other Saturday, but 20 years on, it's a day I'll never forget.

I was working in Supervalu and was on a bit of a high because I'd passed my driving test the day before.

At lunchtime, I walked down town to meet a friend who was getting her hair done in a hairdressers in Campsie.

I rarely headed down that end of town, but I did that day.

Omagh bomb relatives sue NI police chief

Timeline of Omagh bomb legal cases

I must have walked past the car containing the bomb, already parked, waiting for what was to happen next.

So many times I've wracked my brain trying to remember if I'd seen anything that could help piece together who did this to my home town.

But I couldn't.

Crowds of people

I went back to work after lunch, serving on the hot food and ice cream counter.

I remember the Spanish and Buncrana children coming in and serving them, what they had I can't remember - maybe it was ice-cream.

Image caption Aileen Moynagh was 17 and working in the town on the day of the bomb

I remember looking out the front door and seeing crowds of people walking down Market Street towards the bottom of the town and heard there was a bomb scare at the court house.

Not long after, we were told the shop was being evacuated.

I, and many others, headed towards the front doors but the provisions manager closed them and said no - protocol was to go out the back.

If only other shops had adopted the same measures.

There was a woman, with a child and a trolley of groceries waiting for the lift. A friend and I said we'd help her down the stairs.

We put her groceries in the car and headed back towards the back door.

We'd just reached it when there was a bang.

Image copyright PAcemaker

Image caption RUC and forensic officers sift through the debris of the Omagh explosion

The strange thing is, the bang didn't seem that loud to me.

What I remember were the birds and the slates of the building blowing off the roofs.

And then the silence.

The silence that seemed to last for ages, but it was realistically only a few seconds.

'Screaming'

Then everything changed.

There's an entry that runs from Market Street, where the bomb went off, to the car park I was in.

That's where people started running towards us.

Girls I knew, saying that their friends had been injured. Some of the injured came, covered in blood, looking for help.

Another girl screaming that her mother was dead.

'The devastation'

It was like a scene out of a horror movie. But unfortunately, one in which I was part of and it wasn't fiction, it was very real.

A few of us walked towards the Dublin Road.

I stopped and looked across at the site in front of me. The devastation. The front of Slevin's Chemist destroyed, the pandemonium on the street yards ahead of me.

I was frozen. I couldn't go any further. I was terrified and couldn't face what lay ahead, so I turned back.

I've often regretted not going to try and help. I may have been more of a hindrance than anything - the sight of blood doesn't sit well with me.

But maybe I could have held someone's hand, comforted someone or helped friends caught up in it.

But I ran away.

'I was so frightened'

I met a policeman I knew and he said he'd get me home.

I knew my parents would be panicking. I'd already tried to ring home, but the phone lines were down.

I say ring home, but we were queued at the pay phone into the shop - there were no mobiles back then.

We made our way through the store room on to the main street above the bomb site and made our way to the bus depot.

People were saying there were rumours of a second bomb. There wasn't, but at the time I was so frightened.

When we got to the bus depot I met my friend's mum.

Omagh bomb timeline

15 August 1998 - A large car bomb explodes on a Saturday afternoon in the centre of Omagh, County Tyrone, fatally wounding 29 people.

18 August 1998 - The Real IRA claims responsibility for the bomb.

6 August 2003 - Alleged founder and leader of the Real IRA Michael McKevitt is found guilty of directing terrorism.

She had headed into town looking for her but said she'd leave me home first.

We didn't know at that stage my friend - her daughter - was among the injured.

My parents' house is between the old Tyrone County Hospital and the leisure centre - two places which became a hub for different reasons over the following days.

I got home to an emotional and relieved family.

I was never so glad to see them and be safe. My dad had been leaving the house when the bomb went off. Mum thought it was our car, because it was so loud.

Dad headed straight into town to find me.

'Walk away, towards the bomb'

When he got to the Swinging Bars Roundabout he met someone he knew who told him to stop, that he didn't want to see how bad things were.

I can't even imagine what my parents were going through, although it's nothing compared to the pain other families have had to endure.

We were some of the lucky ones.

While I was home and safe, my thoughts were with my friends.

Friends who had been in the shop and told me that, apparently, there was a bomb scare at the courthouse, that they were being moved down the street.

I had watched them walk away, towards the bomb.

Our house phone wasn't working as so many phone lines were down so I wanted to go to my friend's house.

The friend I worked with and helped the woman to the car with.

Even though I'd passed my driving test the day before, I was in no fit state to drive, so my sister left me.

We sat watching it unfold on the television, watching the numbers of dead and injured increase, waiting for news.

Minutes seemed like hours as I sat with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, dreading the phone ringing with bad news.

Two of my circle of friends were injured.

Hive of activity

The following few days were strange, spending time with friends in hospital - not how any of us imagined the last few weeks of our holidays.

While in the hospital one day, there was a hive of activity as special guests were arriving.

We sat at a window seat waiting and watching as a row of cars gleaming in the August sunshine lined up at the front of the hospital.

Later, Prince Charles and Mo Mowlam appeared on the ward.

It's funny the things you remember. We were sitting eating Quality Street and shared them around.

Mo Mowlam took a green triangle (or as I just checked, a hazelnut noisette) and she handed me the wrapper saying "in honour of your hard work and dedication".

Not that she knew me of course.

The next day I attended the funeral of Jolene Marlow. Jolene was a friend of one of my closest friends and her mum and my dad are cousins.

It was one of the saddest funerals I've ever been to.

At the end they played Jolene's favourite song - LeAnn Rimes' "How Do I Live".

Months later my school was asked to record an album in tribute to her.

At the age of 14 Jolene had written about two things she wanted to do: "One is become a marine biologist and the other is swim with dolphins…that would be paradise".

The album was entitled "To Swim With Dolphins" and included tribute song to her, which I composed.

Image copyright PAcemaker

Image caption Structural engineers begin to examine the scene in and around the Explosion

Going back to school in September, just weeks after the bomb, was strange.

It wasn't like any other year.

I can't really explain how it felt but it was different. There was an air of sadness, confusion, anger.

There were pupils returning after injury, some returning after losing relatives, friends or neighbours.

Nobody was unaffected by what had happened. We were all still kids trying to make sense of it all.

Symbols of peace

A group of us decided we wanted to do something, to give pupils a chance to express their feelings and to reach out to others.

So we created seven doves - a symbol of innocence and peace - one for each year group.

Every pupil in the school wrote their thoughts on a piece of paper which was folded into a ribbon so it couldn't be read. Each was pinned to a dove like feathers.

We gave a dove to each school in Omagh who had lost a pupil in the bomb and then a few of us brought doves to the primary school in Buncrana in memory of the three young boys who'd lost their lives.

Omagh didn't just affect those who lived there - the pain and hurt caused extended much further and still exists to this day.

As a reporter, I have to report on stories where people have lost their lives or been injured and I often think back to Omagh.

My memories of what happened on that day in August 20 years ago always remind me that events like this are not just news stories, but people's lives.

Related Topics

Omagh

The Omagh Bombing

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mhsn033 · 4 years ago

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Walworth park attack: Man ‘stabbed by knife-wielding gang’

Image copyright PA Media

Image caption The assault came about in a park in south London stupid on Friday afternoon

A particular person used to be stabbed by a community of men armed with baseball bats and knives as “distressed” younger other folks regarded on, witnesses comprise stated.

The 24-year-faded victim used to be attacked in Nursery Row Park, Walworth, south London, at about 17: 20 BST on Friday.

The victim reportedly collapsed within the course of East Avenue Market as traders had been packing away for the night.

He remains in a severe condition, the Metropolitan Police stated. No arrests had been made.

Two sisters, who saw the victim lying within the avenue following the assault, stated younger other folks witnessed what came about.

One stated she saw two younger other folks, who regarded about 5 or six, point to to police how a gang of men had bustle as a lot as the victim and stabbed him.

“They (the younger other folks) had been if reality be told distressed,” she stated.

She stated her sister, a dilapidated nurse, went to abet but used to be stopped by officers.

“There used to be a girl on the lookout for to position the younger man within the recovery draw but they weren’t letting anybody else come stop to him,” she stated.

‘Win attacked one more time’

Her sister stated: “They are going to come attend for that particular person – we usual to peek it the full time after I used to be a nurse,” she stated.

“(Stab victims) need security when they procure out of sanatorium because of they incessantly procure attacked one more time.”

Det Sgt Lift Merrett stated forensic prognosis of the scene and a trawl of accessible CCTV footage used to be beneath map.

He urged witnesses and anybody with cell phone footage of the assault to come attend forward.

A Piece 60 expose, which permits police officers to terminate and search other folks, used to be common for the Walworth house and extra patrols had been set in space.

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mystlnewsonline · 6 years ago

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Teen deaths stir knife crime debate in UK, which limits guns

LONDON (AP) — Jodie Chesney was a keen Explorer Scout. Yousef Makki wanted to be a surgeon.

The two 17-year-olds were stabbed to death on the same weekend in different parts of England, plunging friends and families into grief and igniting an intense political debate about why so many young people in Britain are being killed — and who is to blame.

“How many more?” asked the Daily Mail on Tuesday…

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#England #EU-Britain-Knife Crime #Europe #general news #government and politics #LeadingNews #Theresa May #United Kingdom #Western Europe

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reomanet · 6 years ago

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Blue badges: UK charities welcome introduction of parking permits for people with 'hidden disabilities'

Blue badges: UK charities welcome introduction of parking permits for people with ‘hidden disabilities’

Blue badges: UK charities welcome introduction of parking permits for people with ‘hidden disabilities’ Popular Videos UK charities supporting individuals with autism and mental health conditions have welcomed government plans to introduce blue badge parking permits for those with “hidden disabilities”. In what marks the largest overhaul of the current system in 40 years, the Department for Transport has confirmed that, from 2019, those with unseen disabilities will now be granted permits enabling them to park closer to their destinations. Citing the fact that current rules concerning the badge scheme are “open to interpretation” by local authorities, the government has said the new scheme will help to offer greater clarity. Children with autism ‘twice as likely to suffer from allergies’ Transport minister Jesse Norman said: “Blue badges are a lifeline for disabled people, giving them the freedom and confidence to get to work and visit friends independently. “The changes we have announced today will ensure that this scheme is extended equally to people with hidden disabilities so that they can enjoy the freedoms that many of us take for granted.” Having recognised that people with mental health problems often struggle with the same travel issues as the physically disabled, the government has now moved to accommodate individuals with less obvious disabilities. Under the new criteria, those eligible for a parking permit include individuals who cannot make a journey without “a risk of serious harm to their health or safety”, or that of others, and those for whom journeys cause “very considerable psychological distress”, such as people with autism. The initiative has drawn support from a number of UK charities, including the Mental Health Foundation, Mind and the National Autistic Society. Isabella Goldie, director of Mental Health Foundation, told The Independent: “We welcome the news that the Blue Badge initiative is being extended to people with mental health issues. “For many people, having the ability to be assured a parking space can help encourage them to go out and engage with people and avoid becoming isolated and cut off at home. “This also recognises that tasks that many of us take for granted – like going to the shops – can be deeply distressing for some people with mental health problems. A simple thing like being able to park a car easily, can make a significant difference. 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British police have declared a “major incident” after two people were exposed to an unknown substance in the town, and are cordoning off places the people are known to have visited before falling ill AP 27/50 3 July 2018 England celebrate after beating Colombia on penalties in their round of 16 match at the World Cup in the Spartak Stadium, in Moscow AP 28/50 2 July 2018 Floral tributes left at Gorleston beach in Norfolk where a girl was fatally thrown from an inflatable on Sunday, as an MP calls for bouncy castles to be temporarily banned in public areas PA 29/50 1 July 2018 A firefighter carries a water hose past sheep close to scorched moorland as it burns during a fire at Winter Hill, near Rivington Reuters People march in central London to mark the 70th anniversary of the NHS PA 31/50 29 June 2018 People look at the damage to the outside of a high-rise block in Wellington Way, Mile End, in east London, after a fire broke-out in a 12th floor flat PA 32/50 28 June 2018 Prime Minister Theresa May holds up a Belgium football shirt given to her by Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, center left, during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels. European Union leaders meet for a two-day summit to address the political crisis over migration and discuss how to proceed on the Brexit negotiations AP 33/50 27 June 2018 The full moon rises behind burning moorland as a large wildfire sweeps across the moors between Dovestones and Buckton Vale in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester on June 26. Firefighters fought the blaze throughout the night and into the 27 Getty 34/50 26 June 2018 Prince William pays his respects during a ceremony commemorating the six million Jews killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust, in the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem Reuters 35/50 25 June 2018 Planes land at Heathrow airport ahead of the vote in parliament which decided Heathrow airport should have a third runway. PA 36/50 24 June 2018 Harry Kane celebrates scoring his second goal and England’s fifth with teammates during their World Cup group game against Panama. England won 6-1 EPA 37/50 23 June 2018 Demonstrators at the People’s March demanding a People’s Vote on the final Brexit deal, in London, on the second anniversary of the 2016 referendum Getty 38/50 22 June 2018 Andria Marsh, 63, holds up photographs of her parents and her original British passport, following a Windrush service at Westminster Abbey in London. A service was held at the Abbey to commemorate the arrival to Britain of Caribbean migrants on the ship, Empire Windrush, 70 years ago. The migrants were recruited to rebuild post-war Britain EPA 39/50 21 June 2018 Revellers watch the sunrise as they celebrate the pagan festival of Summer Solstice at Stonehenge in Wiltshire. The festival, which dates back thousands of years, celebrates the longest day of the year when the sun is at its maximum elevation. Modern druids and people gather at the landmark Stonehenge every year to see the sun rise on the first morning of summer Getty 40/50 20 June 2018 Family members of those who died in Gosport War Memorial Hospital gather today after a public inquiry found that up to 650 patients died between 1989 and 2000 from lethal doses of opiate medication that was delivered “without medical justification” PA 41/50 19 June 2018 Former TV presenter John Leslie leaves Edinburgh Sheriff Court, he is accused of putting his hand down a woman’s trousers as they danced at her hen night PA 42/50 18 June 2018 Prime Minister Theresa May finishes speaking following visiting patients at the Royal Free Hospital in London. Ms May announced a new package of £20 Billion worth of funding for the NHS Getty 43/50 17 June 2018 Competitors begin the race after a rolling start during round two of the 2018 Championship, the F1H2O UIM Powerboat World Championship Grand Prix of London, at the Royal Victoria Docks Getty 44/50 16 June 2018 Fire fighters attend the scene of a second fire at Glasgow’s School of Art four years after part of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed building was destroyed by fire. The blaze spread to nearby buildings including the Campus nightclub and O2 ABC music venue SWNS 45/50 15 June 2018 Dean of Westminster, John Hall, accompanied by first wife Jane Hawking, watches as daughter Lucy Hawking, places flowers at the site of the internment of the ashes of Stephen Hawking in the nave Westminster Abbey. The world renowned physicist and author of A Brief History of Time, died early in the morning of 14 March 2018, at the age of 76. Professor Hawking’s ashes will be laid to rest close to Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin Getty 46/50 14 June 2018 British singer Robbie Williams performs during the opening ceremony of the 2018 World Cup at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow Reuters 47/50 13 June 2018 Prince Charles uses a power drill during a visit to the Owenkillew Community Centre in Gortin, as part of his tour of Northern Ireland Getty 48/50 12 June 2018 England manager Gareth Southgate, his players and coaching staff pose for the official England squad photo ahead of traveling to the World Cup in Russia The FA 49/50 11 June 2018 Play was suspended during the match between Lancashire and Essex as an Air Ambulance landed on the pitch after one of the spectators was taken ill on day three of the Specsavers County Championship, Division One match at Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester PA 50/50 10 June 2018 Marchers hold up banners as they gather to mark 100 years since women won the right to vote in the UK Getty “It is also another step to creating a society in which we take mental health problems as seriously as we take physical health problems and create real parity between the two.” Vicki Nash, head of policy and campaigns at Mind, said: “We’re really pleased that more people with mental health problems should now be able to access blue badges. This is an important step in the right direction – showing greater recognition of the many barriers faced by some people with mental health problems when it comes to leaving the house and making journeys.” Jane Harris, director of external affairs at the National Autistic Society, said the change would “make a massive difference to the lives of many of the 600,000 autistic people in England, and their families”. The badge scheme was launched in 1970 and currently around 2.4 million disabled people in England benefit from the service. The permit costs £10 from local authorities, and those in London are also exempt from the Congestion Charge. Around three out of four blue badge holders say they would go out less often if they did not have one, the DfT previously said. The change to the system follows an eight-week consultation launched in January which had more than 6,000 responses.

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Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionFootage shows the suspected attacker being tackled to the ground before the police arrive

Prime Minister Theresa May says the terror attack near a north London mosque is “every bit as sickening” as other recent ones to hit the UK.

A man drove a van into worshippers close to the Muslim Welfare House in Finsbury Park as they were gathered to help an elderly man who had collapsed.

He later died, but it is not clear if this was a result of the attack. Nine other people were taken to hospital.

A 48-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said the incident was “quite clearly an attack on Muslims”, and the community would now see more police, including armed officers, in the area, “particularly around religious establishments”.

It is the fourth terror attack in the UK in three months, after incidents in Westminster, Manchester and on London Bridge.

Police said all the victims of the attack were Muslim and many were believed to have just left evening prayers after breaking the Ramadan fast.

Follow live updates here

What we know so far

In pictures: Finsbury Park attack

Welsh hire van in mosque terror attack

Theresa May’s statement in full

Security Minster Ben Wallace said the suspect was not known to the security services, and was believed to have acted alone.

The prime minister said police declared it a terrorist incident within eight minutes and a 48-year-old white man was now in custody.

Mrs May was speaking after chairing a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption The prime minister and the Met Police commissioner met faith leaders at Finsbury Park Mosque

“It was an attack that once again targeted the ordinary and the innocent going about their daily lives – this time British Muslims as they left a mosque having broken their fast and prayed together at this sacred time of year,” she said.

She added that “there has been far too much tolerance of extremism over many years”.

“It is a reminder that terrorism, extremism and hatred take many forms; and our determination to tackle them must be the same whoever is responsible.”

After making her statement outside Downing Street, the prime minister visited Finsbury Park Mosque, which is also close to the scene of the incident, where she held talks with faith leaders.

Image copyright Alamy

Nine people were taken to hospital after the attack, which happened shortly after midnight, and several are seriously injured.

Eyewitness Abdul Rahman told the BBC: “When the guy came out from his van he wanted to escape, run away, and he was saying ‘I want to kill Muslims. ‘I want to kill Muslims.’

“I hit him on his stomach… and then me and the other guys… we held him to the ground until he couldn’t move. We stopped him until the police came.”

Adil Rana, 24, said “people were punching him and beating him, which was reasonable because of what he’s done”.

The imam of Muslim Welfare House – which is also a community centre – said a passing police van was flagged down after the attack.

Mohammed Mahmoud told reporters: “We told them the situation – there’s a man, he’s restrained, he mowed down a group of people with his van and there is a mob attempting to hurt him and if you don’t take him then, God forbid, he might be seriously hurt.

“We pushed people away from him until he was safely taken by police.”

Toufik Kacimi, chief executive of Muslim Welfare House, said the suspect had told those holding him “you deserve it” and was also saying “I did my bit”.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionFinsbury Park Imam Mohamed Mahmoud says the community in Finsbury Park is “mild-mannered, calm”

Another witness, who gave his name as Abdul, told the BBC the suspect was shouting “kill me, I’ve done my job”.

Earlier, police also said the arrested man would be the “subject of a mental health assessment in due course”.

Image copyright PA

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “While this appears to be an attack on a particular community, like the terrible attacks in Manchester, Westminster and London Bridge it is also an assault on all our shared values of tolerance, freedom and respect.”

Thee mayor has also reiterated his calls for the government to provide more funding to the Met Police.

BBC home affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani said it was not the first time that Muslims – and specifically visible Muslim targets, namely mosques – had been targeted in an act of terrorism in the UK.

The threat from extreme right-wing groups has been growing in recent years, he said, noting that 16% of all terror arrests in the year to March were classed as “domestic extremism”.

At the scene

By Cherry Wilson, BBC News

Locals say this is a proudly multicultural area, where the biggest rivalry is whether you support Arsenal or their north London rivals, Tottenham.

Now the mood here is one of shock, as residents stand by the police cordon seeing the aftermath of yet another attack in London.

Mother-of-four Nicola Senior, 43, is walking back from taking her children to school when she stops to take in the scene.

She said: “I’m frightened. Is there going to be retaliation?

“I am fearful for my kids. Can we go to the park? Can we go to the church? It feels like this is happening all the time.”

‘Everyone is on edge’ after attack

Forensics officers are examining a white van which has Pontyclun Van Hire on it – a firm from Rhondda Cynon Taff in south Wales.

The firm said in a statement that it was “shocked and saddened” and co-operating with the police.

A dangerous juncture in the battle against extremism

Image copyright Reuters

By BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner

This incident risks playing right into the hands of those planning further attacks on vulnerable citizens in the UK.

Online followers of the so-called Islamic State have been quick to seize on the Finsbury Park attack as proof of what they see as widespread hostility towards Muslims who live in the West. Inevitably, it will be used by recruiters and propagandists to incite further attacks – extremism breeds extremism.

The one thing that far right anti-Muslim extremists and violent jihadists have in common is the belief that peaceful coexistence between Muslim and non-Muslim is impossible.

The unified prayers and solidarity across communities that followed recent terror attacks are anathema to them. Extremists of both types want instead to divide society and will keep trying to bring this about by criminal acts of provocation such as this.

The Muslim Council of Britain said this was the “most violent manifestation to date” of recent Islamophobic incidents.

“We expect the authorities to increase security outside mosques as a matter of urgency.”

Mohammed Kozbar, general secretary of Finsbury Park Mosque, gave a statement on behalf of a joint faiths group.

He said that “an attack on one faith is an attack on all faith and communities”.

The group has appealed for calm, adding that “all of our efforts should be towards getting justice for the victims and ensuring our community stays the diverse, tolerant and welcome place we know it to be”.

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionAbdulrahman Aidroos describes how he and others detained the suspected attacker

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionTheresa May said “hatred and evil” will never succeed

Home Secretary Amber Rudd described it as an appalling incident, and said new funding for security at religious sites had recently been arranged.

“We will make sure that we do all we can to reduce these sort of attacks,” she added.

Labour’s shadow home secretary and Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP Diane Abbott said on Twitter that police “must urgently review security for all mosques”.

Labour leader and Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn has also visited the area, telling the BBC that “an attack on a mosque, an attack on a synagogue, an attack on a church is actually an attack on all of us”.

“We have to protect each other’s faith, each other’s way of life, and that’s what makes us a strong society and community.”

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionCorbyn: People must be free to practise their faith

Mr Corbyn attended prayers at Finsbury Park Mosque with Islington Council Leader Richard Watts.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has also been to the area, where he met residents and community leaders.

Speaking to the BBC, he said it was a “despicable attack” which was intended to divide society, but added: “That will fail. These perpetrators will never succeed.”

Mr Javid also said he wanted to reassure Muslims around the UK that the government would “always take a zero tolerance approach to hate crime”.

Image copyright Reuters

Image caption People have been leaving flowers near the scene of the attack

Image copyright AFP

Image caption Prayers were held in the street in aftermath of the van attack

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Don Hale: One man’s fight for justice – BBC News

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Don Hale has helped to clear Barry George, Stephen Downing and Ched Evans

Fifteen years ago Stephen Downing was acquitted after spending 27 years in prison for murder, overturning one of Britain's most notorious miscarriages of justice and putting into the spotlight the local newspaper editor who helped to bring the police's case tumbling down.

Don Hale could hardly have foreseen that by championing the case he would go on to suffer police intimidation and receive death threats - there were even two apparent attempts on his life - forcing him to leave his Derbyshire home.

But the Downing case would eventually change the law, win Hale an OBE and make him a go-to journalist to investigate major miscarriages of justice.

In the years since the release of Mr Downing, Hale has also helped to free Barry George, the man who spent eight years in jail for the murder of Jill Dando, and to clear the name of footballer, Ched Evans, after a controversial rape retrial.

Image copyright PA

Image caption Don Hale was editor of weekly local newspaper, the Matlock Mercury, during his battle to free Stephen Downing

For Hale, the brutal trigger for his life of campaigning was the 1973 killing of 32-year-old Wendy Sewell.

She was found badly beaten but still alive in a Bakewell graveyard by Mr Downing, a council gardener.

He was arrested and questioned without a solicitor for several hours but, aged 17 and with a reading age of 11, officers pressured him into signing a confession to the attack, filled with words he did not understand.

When Mrs Sewell died two days later, the charge was upgraded to murder. Mr Downing immediately retracted his confession but was found guilty at a trial at Nottingham Crown Court.

Image caption Legal secretary Wendy Sewell, dubbed "the Bakewell Tart" in the press, was left for dead in the cemetery

After their son had spent two decades in prison, Mr Downing's parents approached Hale, editor of the Matlock Mercury, for help.

He faced obstacles at every turn, with police telling him all the evidence had been "burnt, lost and destroyed".

A turning point came when Derby Museum staff informed him that the murder weapon - a pickaxe handle - was on display there.

With Hale's help, Mr Downing won 13,000 from the Legal Aid Board.

This paid for a modern forensic examination of the weapon, crucially revealing Mr Downing's fingerprints were not present - although there was a bloody palm print from an unknown person.

The clothes Mr Downing had been wearing, which had been returned to his parents, were flecked with spots of blood which Hale believed were consistent with him having tried to help Wendy Sewell as she lay dying.

Image copyright Don Hale

Image caption Twenty years after the murder Hale reshot scene of crime photographs in Bakewell cemetery

"I reported developments through the Matlock Mercury - it became like The Archers, a bit of a saga," he joked.

But the articles prompted real-life drama in the form of anonymous death threats and what Hale claims was police harassment.

"They made my life absolute hell for five or six years," he said.

"I was pulled up for speeding, stopped and searched, victimised."

Letters were sent to his home and a brick was thrown through the newspaper's window.

Most seriously, on two occasions a vehicle was driven at him at speed, which he believes were attempts to kill him.

Police even gave him a mirror on a stick to check for bombs under his car.

Image copyright Don Hale

Image caption Don Hale marching for justice for Stephen Downing

"I was very worried for my family. There weren't threats against other journalists, it was simply against me. It turned into a rollercoaster," he said.

But all of this merely strengthened his resolve: "If Downing had done it, why should anyone want to threaten me?"

Mr Downing was ineligible for parole under the law at the time because he had refused to admit his guilt.

Hale believed this was unfair and took the matter to the European Court of Human Rights, winning the case in 1996.

It was adopted into law that prisoners who maintained their innocence after conviction could apply for parole.

Image copyright Don Hale

Image caption Derbyshire Dales MP Patrick McLoughlin became one of the Downing campaign's high-profile supporters

By now, the Downing case was attracting attention from far and wide: "I became a hero in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Argentina, because I had taken on the British government and won," Hale said.

Closer to home, Hale said then Prime Minister Tony Blair asked him for help in setting up an independent body to investigate miscarriages of justice, which became the Criminal Case Review Commission (CCRC).

Stephen Downing's was one of the first cases to be looked at by the CCRC.

It recommended his conviction should be overturned on the basis that the circumstances in which he gave his confession made it unreliable evidence that should not have gone before a jury.

The conviction was quashed in 2001 with Mr Downing finally walking free in January 2002.

Image copyright AP

Image caption Hale and Stephen Downing on the steps of the Royal Courts of Justice in January, 2002, after his conviction was overturned

Hale was pleased but also disappointed: "He had got off on a technicality," he said.

"He didn't get his day in court because police were bang to rights. Somebody should have been called to account."

The legal challenge to Mr Downing's conviction focused on the way detectives had conducted the original investigation in 1973.

He had been questioned without a lawyer and there were serious doubts about whether he had been properly advised of his legal rights.

These facts were never made known to the jury that convicted him, but they were enough to overturn the conviction.

But Mr Downing, for his part, was not angry: "Who would I feel bitter against? The system? I think I would be punishing myself," he said.

With much more to say himself, Hale wrote the book, Town Without Pity, which was turned into BBC drama, In Denial of Murder, in 2004.

Image caption In Denial of Murder starred Stephen Tompkinson as Don Hale and Jason Watkins as Stephen Downing

Police reopened their investigation, interviewing 1,600 witnesses, at an estimated cost of 500,000, but failed to identify any alternative suspect - although Hale has previously said he believes he has a "very good idea" who killed Wendy Sewell.

Mr Downing was later awarded 900,000 in compensation.

The huge press attention the case attracted finally forced Hale to relocate to north Wales.

"One of the reasons I moved away from Derbyshire was to get relief," he said. "It wasn't fair on my family."

Image caption Jill Dando's killer has never been brought to justice

But he was soon called on to help with another miscarriage of justice.

BBC Crimewatch presenter Jill Dando was shot dead on her fianc's west London doorstep in April 1999.

A year later, after interviewing over hundreds of people, the Met Police charged 41-year-old Barry George, a self-confessed stalker and loner, with her murder. He was tried, convicted and jailed for life.

But there were serious concerns about the police investigation, and in 2004 Hale was asked to get involved.

"Quite quickly, I found a lot of evidence that didn't match up," he said.

Image copyright PA

Image caption Barry George was "an oddball but not a killer", Hale said

He went to see Mr George in prison where he was "like a lion in a cage", pacing the floor.

"How could he do a clinical murder like that?" Hale said.

"Everyone that was dealing with him said he's a bit of an oddball but he's not a killer."

Gunpowder residue on Mr George's clothing had played a large part in convicting him.

But Hale said there was so little of it that it could have come from weapons armed police were carrying when he was arrested.

The CCRC referred Mr George's case to the Court of Appeal and a retrial took place at the Old Bailey in 2008, when he was cleared of murder and released.

Image copyright Wales News Service

Image caption Ched Evans leaving Cardiff Crown Court with his fiancee Natasha Massey

Ched Evans was serving a five-year sentence for rape when his family approached Hale for help.

"I didn't want to touch it because it was so high profile," he said.

But Mr Evans' mother had serious doubts about the "rushed" investigation.

The then-Sheffield United striker had been convicted of raping a 19-year-old woman at a Premier Inn in Denbighshire in May 2011.

At the same trial, footballer Clayton McDonald was acquitted of the offence.

Hale believed the guilty verdict was an "emotional response" from the jury, owing to Mr Evans' "cockiness". "He thought he was God's gift to women," Hale said.

He spent six months working on the case, in which time Mr Evans was released having served half of his sentence.

"My knowledge and experience meant I could cut corners and had an important point that I knew the IPCC would look at."

Media captionA timeline of events leading to Ched Evans clearing his name

That point was the woman's sexual history and, after the CCRC agreed there was enough evidence to quash the conviction, this evidence controversially formed part of the retrial.

Unlike during the original trial, her previous sexual partners gave evidence recounting similar encounters to the one in the hotel room that night.

It led to plans to review the law protecting alleged rape victims from disclosing details of their sex lives.

Mr Evans was cleared in October 2016 but it left a bitter taste for Hale.

"In this case it was right - you have got to look at each case on its own merit," he said.

"But the whole thing was a bit unsavoury and not good for the girl herself."

Hale said at the time he hoped the case did not deter women from coming forward to report sexual offences.

Image copyright PA

But, had that evidence been used in the original trial, "Evans would have been cleared," he said.

The case took its toll on Hales, now 64, and he has decided not to investigate any more miscarriages of justice, focusing instead on writing books.

"I am proud of what I have done," he said.

"If it wasn't for people like me you'd have no-one to say, 'this isn't the way we should interview people, this is not the way we should treat people'."

Yet he still insists modestly that much of the credit for overturning the miscarriages of justice he has worked on belongs to others, seeing himself more as a catalyst for change.

"You have got to have somebody who gets the ball rolling."

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Image copyright Greater Manchester Police

Image caption It is thought Abedi was one of a larger network of collaborators, which police are investigating

Manchester suicide attacker Salman Abedi was not known to the government’s Prevent scheme, Greater Manchester Police have said.

Chief constable Ian Hopkins told BBC Radio Manchester the bomber was arrested for minor offences in 2012.

Prevent aims to deradicalise young people or prevent others from being radicalised.

MI5 has launched an inquiry into how it dealt with warnings from the public about Abedi.

Two people who knew Abedi while he was a college student made separate calls to an anti-terrorism hotline to warn police about his extremist views.

Troops stand down

Mr Hopkins said: “At this stage I have no other information other than what is on our system about his theft, receiving stolen goods, minor assault… Five years ago, so he would have been 16/17.”

“Abedi was not known to the Prevent programme, was not on any sort of Prevent agenda,” he said.

He added the force would continue to check previous records but said: “Obviously I am not privy to what the security service did or didn’t know about that individual at this time.”

Over the next three days, military personnel deployed under Operation Temperer will be stood down after the UK terror threat level was downgraded to severe.

British troops who have been guarding key locations including Buckingham Palace in the days after the attack will be removed.

Officers have placed a cordon outside an address in Springfield Street in Wigan while they search a property on Tuesday. People have been asked to avoid the area.

How did Abedi slip through the net?

Image copyright GMP

Image caption Police are trying to locate the location of this blue case carried by Abedi

By Danny Shaw, BBC home affairs correspondent

The revelation that Salman Abedi was “not known” to the Prevent programme raises more questions than it answers.

Concerns about Abedi are believed to have been passed on to the police anti-terrorist hotline in 2012.

Three years later, an Imam also apparently contacted police about him and at the time of his death, Abedi was on a list of up to 20,000 former “subjects of interest” to MI5.

These are individuals who at one stage had been investigated and monitored.

So, how was it that he wasn’t dealt with by Prevent officers? Did the authorities decide that he wasn’t suitable for the programme – or was there a breakdown in communication which allowed him to slip the net?

These are now pressing matters for MI5’s post-incident investigation and the report it’s preparing on the case for ministers.

Meanwhile, Manchester Victoria railway station reopened on Tuesday more than a week after the attack at the city’s arena.

The station, attached to Manchester Arena, was shut after the bombing at the Ariana Grande concert, which left 22 people dead and dozens injured.

Staff were visibly upset when they returned to work, with 15 of them among those first on the scene. They were joined by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to lay wreaths.

Manchester attack: Who were the victims?

What we know about bomber Salman Abedi

Special report: Manchester bombing

Mr Burnham told the BBC: “People went above and beyond what you would expect. Those who rushed into the danger were station staff.

“In these moments, you do see the best of people, you see the best of our public services and it is quite awe-inspiring to hear that.”

‘I just want to hug everyone’

By Michelle Adamson, BBC Manchester reporter at Victoria station

There is a sombre atmosphere among commuters as Victoria station reopens.

The heartache is still raw following the Arena attack and some commuters are in tears as they attempt to get back to their normal routines.

People have been emotional but what unites them all is a steely defiance to carry on. Commuter Hannah Khan, 32, said: “I just want to hold my hands out and hug everyone.”

Black cab driver George Berry, 60, from Bury, is back on the taxi rank at Victoria Station.

He said he had “mixed feelings but I’m glad to be back at work”.

He said the lives of those not directly affected by the attacks would be returning to normal.

“They won’t forget, but you have to make a living.”

The investigation

A total of 16 people have been arrested. Two have been released and 14 remain in custody

Police are appealing for people who may have seen Abedi with a blue suitcase in the Wilmslow Road area or the city centre between 18 and 22 May

Searches have been carried out at a tip next to the M66 between Bury and Heywood

Police also searched a number of addresses on Monday in Whalley Range and Rusholme, Manchester, Chester, and Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex. As a result of these a 23-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences

Some 18 scenes are still being guarded and forensically examined across Greater Manchester

Mr Hopkins said the investigation will continue for some time and “a significant team of detectives” would be brought together ahead of the “inevitable court cases”

The Anti-Terrorist Hotline is 0800 789 321

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionCCTV footage appears to show the Manchester bomber walking around a shop

In other developments:

In total 116 people received hospital treatment in the days immediately after the attack

There are now 50 being treated in eight hospitals, including 17 people who are currently in critical care

Ariana Grande has said she will return to Manchester to play a benefit gig for the victims of the attack

Vigils were held in the days after the attack and on Monday to mark a week since the bombing

Hundreds gathered across the UK including in St Ann’s Square, Manchester to lay flowers and pay tribute to those who lost their lives

Image copyright PA

Image caption Mayor Andy Burnham said there had been a “city-wide response” to the attack