Bomb found outside policeman's family home 'may have fallen off car'

A bomb found in Derry on Sunday night was left outside the family home of a serving police officer, the PSNI has said.

Several homes were evacuated just after midnight as army bomb experts examined a suspicious package at Drumleck Drive in Shantallow, Derry.

The PSNI officer does not live in the house. The bomb has since been defused.

Laura Deery and her six-month-old son, Leo, were caught up in the alert. They had to flee their home at about midnight.

“It was just terrifying. I had to lift the baby out of his bed, and our family had to walk up the street in our bare feet,” she told the BBC. “We weren’t allowed back for food or nappies. How would these people like it if members of their family were put to the street?

“My baby could have been blown to pieces, I could have been making funeral arrangements. This is a nice quiet area normally.”

A PSNI spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that it was outside the home of the family of a serving police officer who does not live there.”

SDLP councillor Shaun Gallagher said it was a despicable act.

He said the device was discovered lying on the roadside near some terraced houses, having appeared to have fallen off a car.

He added the police officer’s parents were elderly and well-respected locally.

“They are more angry than frightened…He would not be a man who would lie down,” he said. “It is very distressing for the whole area.”

He said the parents could not conceivably be a target for dissident republicans.

“They are civilians, are they not innocent people? In any other country it would be a war crime to target civilians.”

Dissident republicans have targeted police several times.

New constable Ronan Kerr was killed when a device blew up under his car in Omagh, Co Tyrone, last April.

Ministers and senior police have warned the threat level remains severe.

A rally in Derry by the Real IRA, which opposes the peace process, at Easter heard a masked man threaten further attacks on police and soldiers.

The Easter Monday event was organised by the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, which has links to the Real IRA. Republicans gathered for a march and wreath-laying ceremony.

The man, clad in a balaclava and black combat gear, who read a statement on behalf of the Real IRA, said its campaign of violence would continue.

Derry has been named UK Capital of Culture for 2013. In October the office established to organise the celebrations was targeted for the second time by dissident republicans.

Policing Board chairman Brian Rea condemned those responsible for this latest attack.

The head of the PSNI watchdog said: “The sense of community outrage shows that those responsible for leaving this device are completely out of touch with the community majority.

“We are thankful that the device was found in time but our thoughts are with the officer’s family and the people living close by who have been subjected to a most terrifying incident.”

Jonathan Bell, a minister in the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, said: “All of us in society owe our policemen and women full support. Everyone must help the PSNI bring this terrorist minority to justice.”