Camper van attack: couple hail well-wishers

A COUPLE who were brutally attacked on their first-ever holiday in Ireland paid tribute yesterday to the well-wishers who rallied round to support them.

British couple Kathleen 56, and Jock Fordyce, 61, arrived in Co Louth a month ago for the start of a four-week camper van tour of the island.

But hours after leaving the ferry at Belfast and stopping for the night in a lay-by at Drumand, Co Louth, they were attacked by a gang of machete-wielding thugs.

Ms Fordyce was left with a fractured skull while her husband was left with a severed artery in his arm.

Both spent 10 days at Drogheda’s Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.

The three-strong gang drove off in the couple’s camper van, which was later found burnt out in Co Armagh.

Yesterday, Ms Fordyce told RTÉ Radio how she was inundated with flowers, messages of sympathy and even donations of money during her stay in hospital.

“I felt overwhelmed — the flowers, gifts, cards and letters were streaming in.

“They were all from Irish people and it was overwhelming, and we do appreciate it,” she said, adding the money had been donated to the hospital.

Recovering at her home in Skegness, on England’s east coast, Ms Fordyce said she bore no ill-will towards the people of Ireland following the savage attack.

“When I was in hospital I did vow I would never come back to Ireland, but it could have happened anywhere, so we will be coming back.

“You cannot brand all the Irish the same as these.”

Ms Fordyce and her Scottish husband had never before been to Ireland as she was too scared of water to make the journey over on the boat, she said.

Yesterday, callers to Radio One’s Liveline show, with stand-in presenter Damien O’Reilly, invited the couple back to Ireland for a holiday, adding they were ashamed of the attack.

One caller, a caravan enthusiast who identified himself as Tom from Cork, said the lay-by the couple had chosen was notorious for trouble.

“I’m a haulier myself and used to stop in that lay-by but we don’t stop there anymore because it is too dangerous,” he said.

Unbeknown to the couple, they had driven past three “lovely” campsites on their journey from Belfast before they stopped at the lay-by, listeners heard.

Hours after the June 11 attack, PSNI officers arrested two men after spotting the couple’s camper van on fire in the Drumintee road in south Armagh.

The two, in their early 20s and from Armagh, were charged with attempted murder, hijacking, aggravated burglary and arson.

The defendants are due to appear before Newry Magistrate’s Court today after being remanded in custody at an initial hearing on June 13.