County Derry Post

A Draperstown woman has blasted local hospital services after her mother died from contracting the notorious C- Diff infection on hospital grounds.

 By Patricia Devlin

info@derrypost.com

83 year old Rose Reid died after a short stay at Antrim Area Hospital left her in severe pain from the virulent strain of the bug.

Siobhan Mc Guigan says the lack of care her mother received at Antrim Hospital was in no doubt a massive factor in her death.

“The lack of help and care my mother received at Antrim was ridiculous. She went into hospital for minor gallbladder problems, and she left worse off than when she went in.”

Siobhan says the family started becoming worried about the level of the care her mother was receiving after the 83 year old was put into isolation in the middle of her week long stay at the hospital.

“It was never even explained to us why my mother was put into isolation, especially since she was taken in because of her gallbladder. I approached a nurse who had my mothers file in her hand and she refused to answer any of my questions, she told me I had to make an appointment with a doctor to find out. ” Said Mrs Mc Guigan.

After leaving the hospital grounds Mrs Reid’s health slowly began to deteriorate, after consultation with her doctor Rose was admitted to Mid Ulster Hospital in Magherafelt were tests showed she had contracted the C-Diff bug as well as Septicaemia.

Rose was then transferred to Craigavon Area Hospital where she passed away less than 24 hours later.

“We can’t get our heads around it, if she had of died of old age or gone downhill after her operation we could have understood. You’d think in this day and age they could’ve done something to prevent her dying in those circumstances.”

The family are now awaiting a post-mortem report to help push for an inquiry into Rose’s death. It is the second tragedy in less than five months for the Mc Guigan’s as Siobhan’s son Keith committed suicide last September.

 “We didn’t even get a chance to grieve properly for Keith as my mother was taken into hospital. Now we will be grieving for them both.” 

The PSNI has yet to release all its files on the murder of County Derry GAA official Sean Brown, a coroner has been told.

By Connla Young
connla@derrypost.com

The Bellaghy man was abducted from the gates of the Wolf Tonne GAA club by the LVF as he locked up in May 1997.

The father of six was later shot several times at a quiet lane near Randalstown.  His body was found beside his burnt out car.

A preliminary inquest in Belfast last week heard that the Brown family’s legal team has yet to receive all relevant police files into the murder.

Karen Quinliven, who represents the Brown family, expressed concern that a key file disappeared from a police station in 2001.

A police legal representative claimed that several files relating to the Brown murder contain sensitive information including intelligence documents.

Coroner John Lecky questioned whether the material contained in the documents was sensitive given that a key suspect in the murder, Mark Fulton, was now dead.

Mr Fulton, a close associate of LVF founder Billy Wright, was found dead in his prison cell in Maghaberry prison in June 2002.

The Brown family has been highly critical of the police probe into the murder. And in 2004 former Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan branded the investigation ‘incomplete and inadequate’.

A date has not yet been fixed for the full inquest to be heard.

A Toomebridge teenager has been told by doctors he won’t be able to take part in a boxing tournament after he was badly beaten in an apparently sectarian attack.

By Connla Young
connla@derrypost.com

Budding boxing star Enda Kennedy was set upon by two youths as he boarded a bus at Church Street, Antrim, last Thursday.
Now doctors have told the young fighter he will not be able to take part in the All Ireland Amateur Boxing Championships in March.

The teenager says he didn’t see his attackers coming.

“They came up to me, pulled me to the ground and starting kicking me in the face,” he said.

The youngster was treated at the Ulster Hospital, Dundonald, where specialists diagnosed a depressed cheekbone and crushed right eye socket.

The teenager’s father, Damien, said his son was disappointed not to be going to the boxing finals.

“He is just gutted he won’t be able to compete in the all-Irelands,” he said.

“He keeps saying he’ll be ok, but we are not taking any chances. Enda got to the bus first and he was waiting on the doors to open when two guys appeared from behind the bus.

“They ran up and one of them grabbed Enda’s schoolbag and pulled him to the ground, while the other one kicked the head off him.”

Mr Kennedy also revealed his son has been threatened through the pages of social networking site, Bebo.

Police say they are treating the attack as sectarian.

The age-old district competitions formerly played under the auspices of the North and South Derry Boards will remain intact this year but there are sweeping changes to all six cups, while the shape of promotion and relegation will change slightly for the coming year. By Cahair O’Kanesport@derrypost.com  

Having experimented with five eight-team leagues in 2007, the county board have decided to stick with the same basic structure but the one-up, one-down format will change slightly. 

The top team in each of the top four divisions will be automatically promoted, while the bottom team will automatically be relegated.

However, those who finish second from top will be this year rewarded with a playoff against the side second from bottom in the league above them.

The same applies in principle to Division Five, provided that neither Bellaghy, Ballinderry nor Glen Thirds win the league.

The three will continue to compete in the league and can win it but cannot gain promotion to Intermediate football.

The promotion spots will be decided among the senior teams (i.e. Lissan, Drum, Dolan’s, etc) based on points accumulated against each other.

The points accumulated against the Thirds sides will not be counted in the battle for promotion.  Nothing complicated about that at all…

The leagues begin slightly later this year, with the Reserves throwing in on Friday 4 April and Divisions 3, 4 and 5 starting on April 6.

The top two leagues will start on April 20.  The league fixtures will be announced on February 7, the night on which the draws for the first round of the Championship will be made at Owenbeg.

Reserve football this year will be played a separate division from the seniors, with all games due to be played on a Friday night, beginning on April 4.  Divisions One and Two will be 13-a-side with the option playing with 15, while Division Three will be a compulsory 13-a-side, 16-team, one round league.  Reserve Hurling this year will also be 13-a-side.

The Dr. Kerlin, O’Hagan, Neil Carlin (North) and Larkin, Dean McGlinchey and Graham (South) cups will all find major changes this season, with the cups split into senior, reserve and junior / intermediate.

The Dr. Kerlin Cup will comprise the top eight teams from North Derry, with Banagher, Dungiven, Glenullin, Craigbane, Claudy, Coleraine, Faughanvale and holders Foreglen all in the hat.

The South Derry equivalent, the Larkin Cup, will be contested by Ballinascreen, Ballinderry, Bellaghy, Castledawson, Loup, Slaughtneil, Kilrea and Lavey.

 There has been some controversy around the reformation of the O’Hagan Cup though, with the cup’s donators Glenullin unhappy at being barred from playing for a cup donated by a founder member and former club president.

The restructuring will see the O’Hagan contested between seven Intermediate teams as opposed to all those in North Derry, as both it and the Dr. Kerlin had previously been.

Ardmore, Ballerin, Limavady, Drumsurn, Doire Trasna, Steelstown and Slaughtmanus will be the seven names whose names will be in the ring for the cup which the Mitchel’s have won for the last three years.

The Dean McGlinchey Cup will comprise Glen, Magherafelt, Swatragh, Desertmartin, Greenlough, Moneymore, Newbridge and Ballymaguigan.

The Neil Carlin Cup will, as usual, feature the North Derry teams from Division Five but added to the list of Doire Colmcille, Drum, Glack, Magilligan and Séan Dolan’s will be the reserves of Ballerin, Limavady, Faughanvale, Steelstown, Claudy, Drumsurn and Foreglen.

 The Graham Cup will contain the senior sides of Lissan and Ogra, the thirds of Glen, Bellaghy and Ballinderry and the reserves Ballymaguigan, Kilrea, Newbridge, Moneymore, Desertmartin, Swatragh, Magherafelt and Lavey.

Health chiefs have ordered a probe into the death of a Magherafelt woman just hours after she gave birth at Antrim Area Hospital.

Janet Brown died at the County Antrim based hospital in September 2006 after giving birth to a baby boy.

A pathologist’s report later found that the 28-year-old died as a result of ‘morphine intoxication’; she had received too much morphine.

Speaking  exclusively to the County Derry Post the dead woman’s brother, Arnold Scott, blasted chiefs at Antrim Area hospital.

 “Antrim Area hospital are solely to blame for Janet’s death,” he said. “They simply cannot cope with their workload and people are dying as a result.”

The latest controversy comes just weeks after it emerged that two members of staff were suspended at Antrim Area Hospital after the deaths of two babies there in 2005 and 2006.

A young delivery driver escaped with his life when his van burst into flames as he drove into a Limavady car park on Tuesday morning.

 By Fiona Rutherford

editor@derrypost.com

The Payne and Cooke van had just pulled in to Connell Street car park to make a delivery of fresh fruit and vegetables when the driver, believed to be in his 20s, noticed smoke coming from the bonnet.

A spokesman for Payne and Cooke paid tribute to the young man, who averted a major incident. “He got the van away from traffic and away from premises and stopped before he was burnt. ”

He said an electrical fault in the engine bay was believed to have caused the fire.

“When the driver got out, he phoned the fire brigade immediately and while he was still on the phone the cab caught fire – the dashboard, the steering wheel and the seat he was sitting on – that’s how quickly it happened.

“He was shook up but fair play to him, he was back on the road within a few hours,” he added.

David McCool, owner of Pets R Us, witnessed the fire. “It was a good job he stopped where he did because in the car park he would have been sitting in the middle of other cars and near shops.

“When I got over the van exploded. The tyres blew out, the back door blew out - it was good fun for a minute,” he said.

The Fire and Rescue Service and police quickly arrived on the scene and put the fire out and a Payne and Cooke employee had the van removed within 45 minutes of the fire starting.

 “Apparently it’s a common enough occurrence on the roads in England,” said the spokesman for Payne and Cooke.

Magherafelt District Council is to seek legal advice after town residents objected to the renewal of an entertainment licence for a local sporting and social club.

 By Connla Young

Connla@derrypost.com

Residents in the Parkmore estate and members of the Rainey Old Boys Rugby Club made their case to councillors at this week’s monthly meeting.

During the meeting councillors voted to go into closed session and members of the press were ordered to leave the council chamber.

Parkmore residents and club chiefs have been locked in a long running dispute over allegations of anti social behaviour by party goers pouring out of the club’s Hatrick Park complex at night.

In recent months Magherafelt council chairman Paul McLean and councillor Jim Campbell attended meetings between residents and the club in a bid to find a compromise.

However, relations between the groups took a nose dive recently and a number of residents have objected to an application for the club’s entertainment licence to be renewed.

Rainey Chairman Arnold McLean confirmed the club have hired a barrister to help them fight the residents.

“We have done everything we can to try and resolve this issue,” he said.

“We have met them and met them. There are a lot of things going on around some of the houses and we are getting the blame. We now have a barrister involved and we are paying him well to look after it for us.”

No residents were available for comment.

Magherafelt District Council refused to comment. However, insiders have confirmed that the council is set to take legal advice before a final decision on the licence application is made.

Several new community groups have been set up in Magherafelt in a bid to reduce sectarian tension in the town.

By Connla Young connla@derrypost.com 

The groups, which have the backing of Magherafelt District Council and local statutory bodies, aim to draw representatives from the Sperrin, Leckagh and Killowen estates.  The move to set the groups came after a series of sectarian clashes at the Sperrin/Leckagh interface during the summer.  In the most serious incidents nationalist and loyalist youths attacked each other over several nights.

During some of the disturbances the PSNI also came under attack from nationalist youths.

And although a community group already exists in Leckagh, residents in Sperrin and Killowen are set to launch their own groups.

Magherafelt DUP councillor Anne Forde said the new groups will be used to build better community relations in the district.

“There would be a degree of mistrust as a result of the troubles last year. There is a big gulf between the estates. The reason for this was because of the serious trouble that took place last year and the residents don’t want a reoccurrence of that.  “Nobody needs the trouble or wants it, it’s a small minority that are at it.”

No-one from Magherafelt District Council was available to comment.

Derry manager Paddy Crozier is hopeful that he will see some of his injured stars return to action during tomorrow night’s McKenna Cup semi-final clash with Fermanagh at Healy Park (8pm).

By Chris McCann                                                                                                                                                                              sport@derrypost.com

The Ballymaguigan man is optimistic that skipper Kevin McCloy, and forward duo Paul Murphy and Eoin Bradley will all be available to play some part in the meeting with the Erne men, if only from the bench.

“We’ve our first National League game coming up on the Saturday after next and it’s important that some of these boys get some football. Hopefully the medical staff will give us the all clear to give Paul, Eoin and Kevin 10 or 15 minutes from the bench,” said Crozier.

Even if that trio do return to action the list of absentees that Crozier has to cope with is still staggering.

Conleith Gilligan is still some weeks away after a hernia operation and Sean Martin Lockhart is still out after an operation to correct a longstanding finger injury.

Bellaghy’s Joe Diver is 10 weeks away from a return after surgery on a hip while Desertmartin defender Ruairi Murray is awaiting a second hernia operation in two weeks’ time after already undergoing one procedure earlier this month.

Glenullin half-back Gerard O’Kane will be out for the first half of the National League as he recovers from a dislocated shoulder.

Bellaghy corner-back Michael McGoldrick could also miss the bulk of the league programme with a recurring hamstring problem while Slaughtneil midfielder Patsy Bradley’s recovery from a broken arm has been slower than anticipated and he faces another six week on the sidelines.

The Derry boss also revealed that Claudy forward Gavin Donaghy has opted off the panel as he is planning to go travelling in the near future.

“Gavin is planning to go to Australia soon and as he couldn’t commit to the long-term he has opted out of the squad,” explained the Derry manager.  With such a long list of injured players, Crozier is likely to once again give some of the county’s fringe players the opportunity to stake a claim for a place in the National League squad.  “The players that have come in have done well and some of the Under 21s that we have used such as Rian Kealey have really stepped up,” he said.  The Derry boss also revealed that Swatragh midfielder Michael Friel has been called up to the county panel.

Police have recovered a jacket from the banks of the River Moyola as part of a probe into the discovery of a body on the shores of Lough Neagh, the County Derry Post can reveal.

Mystery continues to surround the death of Gerard Hampson, whose body was washed up on a lonely stretch of the Lough Neagh shoreline, close to Creagh Road, Toomebridge.

The grisly find was made at an isolated area of shoreline by a man out walking his dog last Wednesday.

The 53-year-old, who came from Northland Road, Derry, was wanted for questioning by police when he went missing on November 30.

Sources close to the family have confirmed the dead man was naked when his body was discovered.  It is understood police also told the family they believe Mr Hampson’s body was in the water about a week before being swept ashore.

In a dramatic development police recovered a coat from the banks of River Moyola last Sunday afternoon.

The discovery was made just minutes after the County Derry Post snapped the brown, fleeced lined Petroleum brand jacket as it lay just yards from the river bank near a scenic picnic area.

Detectives also scoured the popular picnic spot at Newbridge in a bid to uncover clues.

Wearing protective forensic gloves, officers also removed an empty beer can from a field adjacent to the car park, near to where the jacket was located.

In an unusual move police say they are treating Mr Hampson’s death as “unexplained”.

A spokesman for the Coroners Service said the “cause of death was undetermined” after a post mortem examination.

It is understood one theory centres on the possibility that Mr Hampson’s body entered the River Moyola before being washed into Lough Neagh by flood waters.

It is believed the dead man’s remains, which were recovered less than a mile from the point where the River Moyola enters Lough Neagh, were then blown ashore during last week’s gale force storms.

Police have confirmed they wanted to question Mr Hampson at the time he went missing.  And although they refused to say why they wanted to speak to the dead man, it is believed to be linked to the abduction of a man and woman in Mullingar, County Westmeath, last April.The couple were taken to Derry City where the man was shot in both ankles.

Mr Hampson’s family appealed for information about his whereabouts.   There were also reported sightings of the dead man in Maghera and Dungiven in the weeks after he disappeared.His son-in-law, Rory Carlin, says the family are devastated by the death.

“We haven’t been told anything new in the last couple of days,” he said.

“At least this means there is some form of closure.”

Mr Hampson will be buried in his home village of Feeny today.

A spokeswoman for the PSNI said there have been no new developments in their investigation.

 She added: “Police had wanted to speak to Mr Hampson about a number of issues shortly before he was reported missing.”