Bomb victim's family still seeking truth, inquest told

The family of a bus conductor killed in the 1972 Sackville Place bombings in Dublin will never rest until they discover the circumstances surrounding his death, his widow told his inquest today.

Dublin Coroners Court began hearing evidence into the death of Thomas Duffy, 23, and George Bradshaw, 29, who were killed in an explosion in Sackville Place in December 1972.

The inquest is also investigating the death of a third man, Thomas Douglas, who was killed in a bomb in the same place in January 1973.

The original inquests, opened shortly after the deaths, were never completed and were formally reopened on December 14, 2003.

Today Monica Duffy-Campbell told the inquest: “The family won’t rest until we find out the circumstances around that bombing, the investigations, why it’s 32 years later we’re here at an inquest.”

Ms Duffy-Campbell was four and a half months pregnant with the couple’s second child when Thomas Duffy was killed.

He was on a break at the CIE bus company canteen round the corner from Sackville Place at 8pm in the evening, coroner Doctor Brian Farrell was told.

A garda came in to warn the men that there had been a bomb scare and as Mr Duffy left the canteen he ran straight into the explosion, the inquest was told.

Garda Michael Murphy told the court he had found Mr Duffy’s body under a car adjacent to a car which had exploded.

Father-of-two George Bradshaw, a bus driver with the same company, was also killed.

His body was so badly injured that it was initially difficult to identify him, the jury in the inquest was told.

Mr Bradshaw’s sister Rose said: “He left behind a grief that never ends. It’s as raw in my mind today as it was then.”

Joseph Hart, a bus conductor at CIE, told how gardaí had run into the canteen to warn the busmen about a bomb.

“The garda said ‘clear the canteen, there’s a bomb’. As we were actually leaving the premises the ceiling came in on top of us.”

Mr Hart said he did not see what had happened to Mr Duffy and Mr Bradshaw.

The inquest is also examining the death of Scottish-born Thomas Douglas, 21, who had moved to Dublin to work a few months before the bomb in January 1973.

The jury was told he was going to buy a newspaper to send to his mother when the bomb exploded, throwing him into a shop window.

His mother Maureen Noble said that a priest in the street had administered the last rites to her brother before he died on the afternoon of January 20, 1973.

Mr Douglas’s brother Joseph described the scene as horrific.

“The whole shop front was all broken up, there was paper all over the street with blood everywhere. It’s as clear today as it was then.”

His younger brother Andrew said that the family had not heard anything after the initial investigation.

He told the court that had it not been for Justice For The Forgotten, an organisation for victims of bombings in Dublin and Monaghan in the 70s, he did not believe the inquest would be happening.

The inquest also heard evidence from eye witnesses who saw two men sitting in a car in unusual circumstances in the area before the first bomb.

No group ever claimed responsibility for the bombing, the first of which occurred on the night that the Dail was debating the amendment of the Offences Against The State Bill.