Police Board chief defiant after bomb attack

The deputy chairman of Northern Ireland’s Policing Board stood defiant today after a petrol bomb attack on his home.

Denis Bradley said he would not be driven off the board by the attack, which followed threats from dissident republicans in the Real IRA last year.

Mr Bradley’s wife and teenage 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.

The attack was condemned as cowardly by Northern Ireland Security Minister Jane Kennedy and Policing Board chairman Professor Desmond Rea.

Police chiefs and Sinn Féin added their voices to the condemnation of the latest in a series of attacks on people associated with the new policing structures in Northern Ireland.

Mr Bradley was not at home when the attack took place – he was in Belfast meeting victims of a growing tide of racist attacks on ethnic communities in the city.

Insisting he would not be forced into quitting his important post, he 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.”

The local policing commander, Chief Superintendent Richard Russell, said that, while the damage was minimal, the consequences of the attack could have been disastrous.

“We could have been looking at a double fatality here.

“It is scandalous to attack a house with a woman and young boy inside, the potential consequences could have been disastrous.”

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

Professor Rea described the petrol-bombing 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.”

Ms Kennedy blasted those behind the attack.

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

Sinn Féin chairman Mitchel McLaughlin weighed in, branding 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.

“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.”