Petrol bombers target Police Board chief

A petrol bomb attack on the home of the deputy chairman of Northern Ireland’s policing board has been condemned by Sinn Féin.

Denis Bradley’s wife and son were at the family home in Templemore Park, in the Rosemount area of Derry, when it was attacked shortly before 9pm yesterday.

However, no-one was injured as one of the petrol bombs detonated inside the porch and another failed to explode.

Mr Bradley, who was last year threatened by the dissident republican Real IRA, had been on his way home from Belfast at the time of the incident.

The former Catholic priest served as a go-between in secret talks between the British government and the Provisional IRA during the Troubles.

Sinn Féin chairman Mitchel McLaughlin branded those responsible for the attack as “mindless idiots”.

The Foyle Assembly member said last night: “It is only through sheer luck that we are not dealing with a tragedy this evening.

“There can be no justification for such activity. When petrol bombs are thrown at a home the culprits must accept that their actions could end in serious injury or death.

“Although Mr Bradley was not at home his wife Mary and his teenage son were. If the petrol bombs hit their target and had taken hold we could have been dealing with very tragic circumstances.

“Have these people learnt nothing from the results of similar attacks such as the one which resulted in the death of the Quinn children in Ballymoney in 1998?

“I call on anyone involved in throwing petrol bombs – whether it be at homes in the [loyalist] Fountain area, Denis Bradley’s home or any other to stop and consider the possible ramifications of such idiotic actions. Stop it before it’s too late.”

A nationalist SDLP member of the Policing Board said the attack on his colleague’s home was “unwarranted”.

SDLP counsellor Joe Byrne said: “Denis has given true leadership to the nationalist community and the general public in Northern Ireland through his work as vice chairman of the Policing Board.

“With others on the Board he has shown what true leadership is about by trying to help the policing development process here to be a success and in trying to drive this society forward.

“I am particularly sad for his family at this time.”

The incident was also condemned by policing board chairman, Professor Desmond Rea who described it as an “act of wanton cowardice” against the work Mr Bradley is doing for the entire community.

He said: “Just two hours before the attack Denis was serving the community and listening to ethnic minority groups who had themselves been the victims of mindless intimidation and violence over recent weeks by people who have nothing to offer our society.

“While Denis was not home at the time, my thoughts are with his wife Mary and his family as nobody should have to suffer such an assault and attack on their own home.”

Northern Ireland Office minister Jane Kennedy said the petrol bomb attack was cowardly.

She said Mr Bradley and his colleagues serving the community “deserve the support of all decent people in Northern Ireland”.

The Policing Board deputy chairman was defiant today, saying the latest attack would not force him to quit the board.

Mr Bradley said: “I won’t be leaving any Policing Board, I won’t be leaving anything.

“It was two children who did this to me – some adult sent them out – there was no real damage.”

But he warned that if such attacks continued someone would eventually be killed.

“There will be deaths some day, someone will be killed, someone will be hurt.”

Mr Bradley was not at home when his wife and 15-year-old son suffered the petrol bomb ordeal – he was in Belfast meeting victims of the growing number of race attacks being carried out on ethnic minority communities.