Family: SF must withdraw claims about murdered man

THE parents of murdered 21-year-old lorry driver Paul Quinn have said Sinn Féin should withdraw allegations of criminality against their late son if the party cannot put forward evidence to support them.

Their call came as a support group was established in South Armagh to support the family in their quest to bring Mr Quinn’s killers to justice.

Spokespersons for Stephen and Briege Quinn said more than 50 members of the local community came together in the family’s home on Monday to form the Quinn Support Group.

A nine-person committee was formed under the chairmanship of former Sinn Féin councillor Jim McAllister, who has represented the family since the murder.

The committee said it would launch a campaign to “promote the truth” about the murder and “combat the deliberate campaign of misinformation and slander” which has taken place since.

And Mr Quinn’s parents urged Sinn Féin to “tell the truth” about the murder.

While Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams last month condemned the murder, and called on anyone with information to make it available to the authorities, he said he did not believe there was any “republican involvement”.

He also said: “This murder is in our view linked to fuel smuggling involving criminals.”

But last night, Stephen Quinn said: “Gerry Adams said Paul was killed because of a falling-out among criminals, which is as good as calling our son a criminal. Next to his brutal murder, nothing has caused us more pain than this allegation.

“Gerry Adams says he consulted people in south Armagh and could certify no republicans were involved. He didn’t ask us or we could have told him different — so could anyone around here.”

If SF had “a shred of evidence” that his son had been involved in criminality, they should put it in the paper, “or else do the decent thing and publicly withdraw it”, his father said.

On Monday, Ulster peer Lord Laird used parliamentary privilege in the House of Lords to name senior republicans he believed were linked to the killing.

Lord Laird’s claims came on the day the ceasefire watchdog, the Independent Monitoring Commission, blamed the murder on IRA members past or present, or their associates.

But the commission, describing it as “a local dispute”, said it was too early to say if the killing of the south Armagh man had been authorised by the IRA leadership.

The Quinn family say they will seek meetings with the PSNI chief constable, the Garda Commissioner, First Minister Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.