Phonecall renews mother’s hope son’s murder will be solved

Today marks 10 years since the murder of plumber Anthony Campbell — and despite her seemingly endless wait for justice his mother Christine is defiant: “My hope is strong.”

On December 12, 2006, Christine’s only child, Anthony, 20, found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. He had no idea he’d been called to fix a leaky radiator at one of Dublin’s then most notorious gang figure’s relative’s homes.

Anthony is believed to have opened the door to his killers. And as he raised his arms in defence, the tragedy that rocked a nation and ravaged a family’s lives, unfolded. Within moments the apprentice plumber was gone forever, murdered in cold blood.

The real target for this hit — the notorious Martin ‘Marlo’ Hyland — was then shot six times, as he lay sleeping in an upstairs bedroom.

Anthony’s mother is still looking for justice. “I won’t give up until I have justice for Anthony. This was never about me, this was always about my son.”

On Friday night, just as she was settling into a quiet evening in with husband Mark Holman, in their home in England — where Christine has lived for several years — the phone rang and the call reduced the courageous mother to tears.

“It was Finglas gardaí,” Christine said. “I’m overcome. I picked up the phone after not hearing from the gardaí in Ireland for two-and-a-half years and it was a female officer on the line, telling me the case means a lot to them and they haven’t forgotten Anthony.”

The simple phone call from gardaí on what has become a cold case opened up the floodgates of emotion. She cried openly and thanked the gardaí for “making me feel hopeful.”

“I thought the gardaí in Dublin had forgot because I hadn’t heard from them for two-and-a-half years.”

“I just thought it was just another cold case but the woman officer who called made me feel hopeful. She said they were still on the case.

Despite the passing of a decade and the fact that Anthony would now be 30 and perhaps have a family of his own, still, in some respects, time has stood still for the nurse.

“It doesn’t feel like 10 years for me. It feels like yesterday when everything was robbed from me but Anthony hasn’t left me, he’s always with me,” she said.

This is the first Christmas Christine has looked forward to in many years. Previously it had been a time of great mourning — but finally she is looking forward to the festivities, thanks to her first step-baby granddaughter, Lyla, born earlier this year.