Bomb sent to DPP chairman’s home

THE chairman of Strabane District Policing Partnership yesterday vowed to remain in his post after a lethal letter bomb was sent to his home.

Tom McBride discovered the device packed inside a brown padded envelope when he returned from work on Monday night.

He said that he and his family were lucky not to have been injured.

“It could have done some damage if it had been opened recklessly. I was suspicious of it. I opened it with a lot of caution.”

Army bomb experts defused the device at his home at Lisnarragh Road in Plumbridge shortly before midnight.

It is the second time he has been targeted by policing reform opponents.

Mr McBride added: “You always have to evaluate your role in these DPPs, especially the family’s needs, but at this stage I will be staying in the DPP.”

In September, before the group had its first public meeting, many members were attacked during a campaign by dissident republicans.

A hoax device was left outside Mr McBride’s front door, while a car belonging to independent member Arthur Mc Garrigle was burned at Our Lady of Mercy girls school in Strabane.

Another member, Mary McCrea, had her car destroyed in Sion Mills.

Mr McBride said he was shocked and disappointed that elements within the community were prepared to target members.

“I would ask them to desist. They only represent a small minority of interests and generally the community is swinging behind the DPPs.

“Over the next year we will be looking at violent crime, domestic burglaries and domestic violence. I would put it that the vast majority of the community is interested in something positive being done about those issues,” he added.

Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde said his force would do everything in its power to protect members of the DPPs.

He said: “This is another example of the determination of a very small number of people to disrupt effective policing and effective partnership with local communities.

Sinn Féin West Tyrone MP Pat Doherty, while acknowledging his party’s differences over policing with Mr McBride’s party, the SDLP, described the attack as a disgrace.