Sir, – The decision of Boris Johnson’s government to introduce a statute of limitations on atrocities linked to the bizarrely named “Irish Troubles” is yet another punch in the face of the victims of terrorism linked to Ireland.
Once an amnesty is granted to terrorist murderers, we can forget about the rule of law. The British government will have replaced it with the rule of the gun and the bomb. History shows that when you allow murderous zealots the opportunity to slaughter without any repercussions, they revel in that weakness.
The terrorist killers will celebrate their escape from prosecution, and see it as the ultimate justification of their vile actions. Knowing that there is no political will to see justice done will simply strengthen the resolve of these killers while the victims’ families are left with the desperate knowledge that their government does not give a damn for their suffering.
Every political party in Northern Ireland disagrees with the British government’s proposed legislation, as do victim support groups across the United Kingdom and Ireland, but our political masters know best, and we are expected to touch our forelocks and thank them for representing the murdered victims’ interests so unsympathetically.
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The Conservative party claims to be the party of law and order. If Tory MPs allow this proposal to pass into law, that claim should be discarded forever. From that point on they should only ever be regarded as the party that puts terrorists before victims. They will be the party that allowed murderers to walk away from their violent crimes without fear of ever being brought to justice.
I now finally understand why so many Conservative politicians refuse to “take the knee” in support of Black Lives Matter. It’s not a racist position. It’s simply because, in their eyes, no lives matter. – Yours, etc,
JAYNE HAMBLETON,
(Sister of Maxine
Hambleton,
murdered in Birmingham
pub bombings 1974),
Birmingham, UK.