McGuinness challenged to visit Claudy

THE North’s Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has been challenged to meet the victims of the Claudy bombing after revealing he met the chief suspect in the attack.

Mr McGuinness confirmed he spoke with Fr James Chesney before the priest’s death in 1980, but claimed the no-warning car bomb attack which killed nine people in 1972 was never mentioned.

The senior Sinn Féin representative had previously denied ever knowing the priest, but yesterday said he had been mistaken and confirmed he met the clergyman, describing him as a “republican sympathiser”.