Reid appeals for peace

Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid today called on paramilitary leaders not to plunge Northern Ireland back into the dark days of tit-for-tat murders.

Dr Reid, speaking after the sectarian slaying of a young Catholic in north Belfast, said the onus was on paramilitaries to talk peace to prove it by their actions.

Father of one, Gerard Lawlor, 19, was shot dead as he walked home from a pub in the Antrim Road area. The murder was claimed by the Red Hand Defenders, a cover name for the Ulster Freedom Fighters.

The Secretary of State, who recently met freed UFF leader Johnny Adair to discuss on-going violence, said: ‘‘There is particularly heavy responsibility on those paramilitaries who tell me they are interested in moving further in politics to show that in action, not just in words.’’

He urged the two communities not to hand over the keys of their future to hate-crazed gunmen.

And he appealed to politicians to condemn all violence and not just attacks on their own sections of the community.

‘‘If this doesn’t stop, the communities will not only suffer further tragic, terrible loss, but they will hand over the keys of their future and the future of Northern Ireland to gunmen.’’

Meanwhile, Sharon Lawlor, the deceased man’s mother, said she would pray for her son’s killers and appealed for no retaliation.

Mr Lawlor, who lived at home with his parents and four brothers, was preparing to set up home with his girlfriend and 18-month-old son.