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16/11/2007
Omagh Blaze Father's Past Revealed
The Omagh father suspected of burning his family and himself to death earlier this week was a convicted sex offender and one of his victims has been talking about her experience.
She said she feared for the family's safety having been indecently assaulted by Arthur McElhill in 1993 after he broke into her home. The woman, aged 31, was just 17 at the time and had been living in fear of him ever since.
She said: "I knew I was in real danger. He was trying to suffocate me. The punches were getting really, really bad and I blacked out for a while. He was so violent. I was so young."
McElhill received a two-year suspended sentence for the attack. And just a few years later he went on to re-offend. In 1996 he was given a five-year jail term at Dungannon Crown Court for indecently assaulting another 17 year-old girl in Irvinestown.
The first victim, who did not want to be identified, said she thought he was capable of anything.
"When I heard the news I felt sickened. It is horrendous. But it was not the case that I did not believe it. He was capable of it. After the attack on myself I knew it wasn't over," she said.
She added: "I was afraid of him all my life. Since he came to live in Omagh I met him a few times and he scared me."
Meanwhile, hundreds of people gathered for a prayer vigil as the bodies of all seven victims were taken to Forster Green Mortuary.
Firemen and police officers formed a guard of honour as the two white vans carrying the coffins passed by. Friends and neighbours looked on in silence, many of them weeping.
See:
Omagh Suspect Died In Blaze
(BMcC)
She said she feared for the family's safety having been indecently assaulted by Arthur McElhill in 1993 after he broke into her home. The woman, aged 31, was just 17 at the time and had been living in fear of him ever since.
She said: "I knew I was in real danger. He was trying to suffocate me. The punches were getting really, really bad and I blacked out for a while. He was so violent. I was so young."
McElhill received a two-year suspended sentence for the attack. And just a few years later he went on to re-offend. In 1996 he was given a five-year jail term at Dungannon Crown Court for indecently assaulting another 17 year-old girl in Irvinestown.
The first victim, who did not want to be identified, said she thought he was capable of anything.
"When I heard the news I felt sickened. It is horrendous. But it was not the case that I did not believe it. He was capable of it. After the attack on myself I knew it wasn't over," she said.
She added: "I was afraid of him all my life. Since he came to live in Omagh I met him a few times and he scared me."
Meanwhile, hundreds of people gathered for a prayer vigil as the bodies of all seven victims were taken to Forster Green Mortuary.
Firemen and police officers formed a guard of honour as the two white vans carrying the coffins passed by. Friends and neighbours looked on in silence, many of them weeping.
See:
Omagh Suspect Died In Blaze
(BMcC)
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Government gives financial backing to Omagh victims
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Paul Murphy has announced plans to provide £800,000 to the families of the Omagh bomb victims in their fight to bring those responsible to justice. Only one person, Colm Murphy, has been convicted in connection to the Real IRA blast which killed 29 people in August 1998.
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