Archive for January, 2008
Pensioner killed in road accident
A former Magherafelt businessman has become the first accident victim on County Derry’s roads this year.
Samuel Scott, 82, died after his car collided with another vehicle on Aughrim Road shortly before 10.30pm last Thursday night.
The road remained closed for over 12 hours as police tried to establish the cause of the accident.
Mr Scott, who lived at 11 Castle Crescent, Castledawson, was a well known businessman who ran a car dealership from premises on the Moneymore Road, Magherafelt, for many years.
The dead man’s daughter, Adele, returned from Asia this week with her husband Eugene Hutchinson to attend her father’s funeral.
Mr Hutchinson is currently the Irish ambassador to Malaysia and was formally consul general in the United States.
Mr Scott was laid to rest at Woods Parish Churchyard after a service at Magherafelt Baptist Church.
Magherafelt DUP councillor Thomas Catherwood offered his sympathies to the Scott family.
“It’s a tragedy and a sad start to the new year that a man of his years, who had a long life, that this had to be his end. I offer my sympathy to his daughter and everybody belonging to him. I sincerely hope there will be an end to these sorts of tragedies.”
Mr Scott’s death came just days after it emerged that 24 people died on County Derry’s roads during 2007.
Sinn Fein join Limavady DPP
Sinn Fein has taken part in its first District Policing Partnership meeting in Limavady.
Schools hit by vicious storm
Hundreds of children got an unexpected day off when power cuts caused a number of schools across the county to close last week.
Storm force gales led to a loss of power in 20,000 homes across the North as the bitter winter chill entered its second week.
Heavy snow also blanketed large parts of the county on Wednesday morning.
Among the schools that closed due to the power cuts were Saint John’s Dernaflaw, Saint Peter’s and Paul’s, Foreglen, Saint Canice’s, Feeny and Saint Mary’s Gortnaghey.
Fiona McCann, Principal at Saint Peter’s and Saint Paul’s, says they had no choice but to close the school.
“The power was off and we had no idea when it was coming back on again,” she said. “When we arrived we knew the power had been off from the night before. We had to close because there was no power and we could not have the children freezing in the school.”
Northern Ireland Electricity Spokesperson Kerstie Forsyth said engineers fought to maintain the power supply.
“The electricity network performed well in the extreme conditions,” she said. ”Our incident centres and call centres are fully staffed and our field staff will respond to any faults that are reported.”
Garvagh man’s tragic death in US
The Garvagh community has launched a fundraising campaign for a local family, devastated by the death of their son in the
By Fiona Rutherford
fiona.rutherford@derrypost.com
John Thompson jnr died in
John jnr had been living in the States for seven years and was due to marry his American fiancée Jane this summer. She joined hoards of local people for his funeral in Ballerin on Sunday.
The tragedy of their son’s death was compounded for John and Angela Thompson by their harrowing ordeal in trying to reach him.
Family friend Gerard O’Kane said they had had to fly from
“They had to fly somewhere else and then sit and wait four hours to get refuelled. The whole time they knew that John was dead. There was nobody there for them, that was the awful thing.”
Gerard’s brother, Frank, who lives in
“John died on Sunday and they were home on Friday. They spent Christmas day sitting in a hotel room in
Ironically, John snr supported his friend, Charlie O’Kane, when he went through a similar ordeal four years ago with the death of his son Eugene in
John jnr was a natural sportsman and excelled at golf, darts, snooker and pool and was a former member of the Errigal Boxing club. He played football with Ballerin at juvenile level and Glenullin in the adult grade.
His father John is one of Garvagh’s best known citizens and is noted for his historic videos of the local area. He and Angela have three other children – Bernadette, Karen and Christopher.
John Thompson snr said he wanted to warn the thousands of people like his son who might be afraid to go to the doctor in case they would be deported, not to take chances with their health.
“If John had gone to the doctor a couple of days earlier it would probably have saved his life. There are thousands of people like John, who aren’t legal and don’t have health insurance.”
The unexpected tragedy has placed a huge financial burden on the family, with the bills for medical care, hotel rooms and flights reaching almost £40,000.
Friends have launched an appeal fund and donations can be sent to the John Thompson Appeal c/o Northern Bank,
Maghera family survive explosion
A Maghera woman has spoken of her Christmas Day horror after the boiler in her home exploded, leaving both herself and her teenage son injured.
By Orla McNicholl
The explosion caused extensive damage to the house at Craigadick Park, and has left the family severely shaken after their miraculous escape.
The mother, who does not want to be named, tearfully recalled the momnent she thought her son was dead.
“We had just finished our Christmas dinner and went into the living room to relax,” she said.
“I was lying down and so was my son as he was sick. My husband lit the fire although it hadn’t been lit in a while.
”The next thing I remember was hearing a pop at which point my husband got up, then there was just a massive explosion and a huge gush of air.
”Shrapnel was flying everywhere and the whole room was in darkness, all I could see were the hot ashes all over the floor. I kept shouting for my son and when there was no answer I thought he was dead.”
The mother suffered burns to her foot and has had to attend the burns unit at the Royal Victoria Hospital.
Her 18 year-old son also suffered injuries to his nose and ear and was hit on the ankle by shrapnel from the explosion.
“I just can’t believe this has happened, it is a Christmas we’ll never forget,” added the woman.
“A fireman who has worked in the fire service for twenty six years said he has never seen anything like it.
“If there had have been someone out in the hallway at the time of the explosion, they would have been seriously injured or killed as there was metal flying everywhere.”
The victim of the explosion has stressed that other home owners should get their boilers checked.
“I would just say don’t take it for granted that your boiler is ok, I wouldn’t wish this on anybody.
“It’s just scary thinking back on what could have happened.”