Looking back with sorrow

The car bomb was left in a busy shopping area

Sunday, 15 August is the first anniversary of the Omagh bombing when 29 people were killed in the explosion admitted by the republican splinter group, the Real IRA.

With that anniversary only days away, the daughter of one of those who died has broken her silence to tell how the loss has left her family still numbed by grief.

Mandy Walker had been married for barely a year when her 60-year-old mother, Olive Hawkes, was murdered in the bomb on a busy Saturday afternoon in the County Tyrone market town.

Mandy Walker: Torment goes on

Mandy's newly built house is just down the lane from the family farm still worked by her widowed father.

In her living room are pictures of her mother dressed for her daughter's wedding.

"It's just so painful to think what happened that day because mummy took great pride in how she looked and she was ripped of all dignity that day," said Mandy.

"Mummy was the second last to be identified. We were one of the last families at the leisure centre and she was eventually identified by her fingerprints.

"I think if God had said who was to be killed that day, I don't think He could have picked any more special people, knowing some of the others also killed.

"They just seemed to be the centre of everybody's lives, ones who held family units together. It just seems incredible that any human being could do this, to inflict such pain.

"I will be glad when the anniversary is over because we need time to grieve. We haven't really had that.

Olive Hawkes: Among last to be identified

"I know it's important to bring the message round the world what happened in Omagh, but there's been 30 years of it and I am aware of other families who have lost people in the Troubles.

"I certainly wouldn't want them to be hurt in thinking that Omagh has priority over anybody else."

"For us there is no future. We've just been left with a legacy of torment".

Mandy's family will not be attending the official commemoration in Omagh, preferring instead the privacy of a church celebration of Olive Hawke's life.

"At the time of her funeral, we asked for no media coverage. The only reason I agreed to speak now is to let people know it doesn't go away or get any easier.

"I suppose in some ways we are just so numb still. People do expect you to have moved on but the reality is that we haven't moved on from that Saturday 15 at all."