‘I’m a brave little boy, amn’t I?’

GAVIN MURRAY is happy to be home with his own toys.

After months of painful treatment for the horrific burns he received after his mother’s car was hit by a petrol bomb last September, the four-year-old is back with his family.

Clutching his favourite toy Mikey the Monkey, he smiles shyly. “I’m a brave little boy, amn’t I?” he asks.

After countless operations, the bandages have been removed from his face. From the front, his injuries don’t look too severe. But when he turns sideways, the damage to the left-hand side of his face is clearly visible.

In the days following the attack, their mother Sheila feared Gavin and his sister Millie, six, would not pull through. While the progress is clear to see, she admits the road to recovery will be a long one.

“They will need many skin grafts, especially Gavin and they are on lots of medication. I will be taking them back often to Crumlin. We were back up at the hospital yesterday.

“Gavin had the bandages taken off his head a few days ago. He and Millie are still wearing burn jackets to try and straighten the skin on their body which is in lumps in some places. One of Gavin’s ears is almost gone and this will need lots of surgery.”

Sheila has hit out at what she claims is a hate campaign being directed against her. She said she is clearly identified in media reports alleging a woman was found smuggling heroin into Limerick prison last month.

“I have nothing to answer to, because I did nothing and have nothing to do with drugs. I was tried and done for it and put in the front page of the paper.”

One report claimed two women were detained for questioning by gardaí and a package believed to contain heroin had been sent away for analysis.

“I wasn’t brought in for questioning. I rang the guards to come to the house after I got a message they wanted to meet me.”

When gardaí came to speak to her she was not at home.

“I rang the number they left straight away and asked them to come to the house. I asked them what they wanted me for and they said it (smuggling drugs into the prison) to me as well. I told the garda I didn’t know anything about it.

“He took a statement. I told him exactly what happened that I went on a visit and I did not give the man I visited anything. The guard was very nice and just talked to me and I just answered the questions and made a statement and that was it.”

She said, while she was not named in media reports, they could only refer to her.

“I told the guards they (prison officers) couldn’t have seen me giving something on camera as I did not give anything.

“All I did was go on a visit. But lately everything I do I’m in the wrong for everything. Everything. A lot of people have it in for me. I am being fingered by newspaper reports. The reports say there was another woman with me on the jail visit. I was on my own with my child Dillon.”

She fears false stories being put out about her could lead to her losing her new €270,000 home paid for by the council.

“They can believe what they want to believe. I know it is not true and a lot of other people who know me, know it’s not true. I never had anything to do with drugs. I didn’t do anything in the jail. That’s what’s driving me mad.

“I am being tried in the media and being found guilty. Everybody is saying it to me. I never had anything to do with anything like that.”