I might have made bomber's choice, says victim's daughter

The daughter of a Conservative MP killed by the Brighton bomb today said she may have made the same choices as her father’s IRA killer if she had lived his life.

Jo Berry was speaking at the launch of an exhibition on forgiveness featuring subjects from Northern Ireland, South Africa, Rwanda and Chechnya.

She was joined at the launch by Patrick Magee, the man who planted the device which claimed the lives of five people during the 1984 Conservative Party Conference.

Ms Berry is pictured alongside Magee, with whom she has been in contact since 1999 when he was released from multiple life sentences under the Good Friday Agreement.

On her experiences since the death of her father, Anthony Berry, she said: “Forgiveness is a word I find quite hard to use.

“It is about understanding that if I lived his (Magee’s) life I could have made the same choices. I feel that forgiveness means that I have to stop being angry and stop being hurt. I still get angry and I still get hurt.”

Ms Berry said the Forgiveness Project exhibition, which opened today at Queen’s University in Belfast, was a positive contribution to a complex problem.

She said: “We can learn from each other’s stories rather than an academic telling us stuff. This is a wonderful way of sharing our stories, of learning, growing and supporting.

“People can come here and identify with different parts of people’s stories or they can be inspired to take their own steps.”

Ms Berry would not be drawn on what she would like to see contained in the IRA’s anticipated statement on its future.

Magee posed for pictures at the launch but declined to give interviews.

However, in an interview which forms part of the photographic exhibition, he said: “Some day I will be able to forgive myself.

“Although I still stand by my actions, I will always carry the burden that I harmed other human beings.

“But I’m not seeking forgiveness. If Jo could just understand why someone like me could get involved in the armed struggle then something has been achieved.”

Magee continued: “Between Jo and I, the big issue is the use of violence. I can’t claim to have renounced violence, though I don’t believe I am a violent person and have spoken out against it.

“I am 100% in favour of the peace process, but I am not a pacifist and I could never say to future generations, anywhere in the world, who felt themselves oppressed, ‘Take it, just lie down and take it’.”

The F Word exhibition, which is the brainchild of journalist Marina Cantacuzino, also features ex-loyalist paramilitary Alistair Little and Anne Gallagher, a former nurse at the Royal Victoria Hospital, who treated victims from both sides of the sectarian divide during the Troubles.

It runs at the university’s Institute of Governance until Friday.