Omagh grieves for tragic family

Omagh was united in grief today as a funeral service was held for the family of seven killed in a horrific house fire last month.

The Co Tyrone town which has known so much heartache was at a silent standstill for the service.

Several hundred people attended requiem mass in the Sacred Heart Church in the centre of the town but numbers were nowhere near what had been expected and a church hall opened up as an overflow was hardly needed.

Arthur McElhill, 39, his partner Lorraine McGovern, 30 and their children - Caroline, 13, Sean, seven, Bellina, four, Clodagh, 18 months and baby James - died together when fire engulfed their three bedroom end of terraced house nearly three weeks ago.

Police launched a murder investigation after the blaze and suspect Mr McElhill of starting the fire after they found petrol had been sprinkled around the house and set alight.

The McElhill and McGovern families were at loggerheads for a fortnight over where the family should be buried.

Eventually it was agreed a single service would be held for the family but that then Mr McElhill would be buried separately from his family.

Speaking during the service parish priest Monsignor Joseph Donnelly referred back to the Omagh bombing saying a community may have experience of tragedy but could never become accustomed to it.

He said: "Omagh, unfortunately, became known world wide as a place that had the misfortune of experiencing terrible events in the past. It was the hope of everyone that such days were over. This made the events of November 13 all the more terrible.

"To lose an entire family unit in one instance is unimaginable. It is a devastation for the families immediately connected. It is a loss so total that words fail to describe the immensity of the events."

Looking down at the five white coffins of the children - each with a single white carnation upon it - and flanked by the coffins of their parents he added: "The visual impact of what lies before us leaves us in no doubt about the horrible reality.

"It has also inflicted unbearable suffering and pain on a whole community, especially on the Lammy community, who were traumatised by what happened."

He said it was particularly so for the young people at the service, especially the school children who were the friends and companions of the children who died.

Young children from St Conor's primary school, next door to the fire blackened house in Lammy Crescent, and where two of the children were pupils, formed a guard of honour as the coffins were carried from the church.

Many wept for their lost classmates. So too did the pupils from the Sacred Heart college where the oldest child attended.

After the service, members of both families carried the seven coffins from the church. That of Mr McElhill was placed alone in one hearse. His partner and youngest child were placed in another and two more children in each of the other hearses.

Overcome with grief they stood in a huddle outside the church hugging and weeping before leading a procession of several hundred strong slowly away from the church behind the hearses.

A few hundred yards away the cortege stopped, mourners got in cars and the families went their separate ways. The McElhill family returned the father to his home village of Ederney, Co Fermanagh.

The McGoverns took the mother and children across the border to where she was born at Corlough, Co Cavan and where she was laid to rest in a single grave with her five children.

The North's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and the local MP, Sinn Féin's Pat Doherty attended the service.

The Irish Government was represented by Minister for Children Brendon Smith.