Reavey family murders

The SDLP's Dominic Bradley has asked former First Minister Ian Paisley to apologise for alleging that the brother of UVF murder victims was responsible for the 1976 Kingsmill massacre.

On 4 January 1976, three brothers of the Reavey family were murdered in their home by the Glenane gang, a UVF group with alleged links to the security forces.

Despite pleas from the Reavey family, retaliation for the murders followed on 5 January 1976 when 10 Protestant workers were shot dead by republicans outside Kingsmill, County Armagh.

In 1999, Mr Paisley used parliamentary privilege to accuse Eugene Reavey, brother of the Reavey victims, of organising the Kingsmill massacre, on the basis of information contained in a security file.

The then Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan said that no such file existed.

The Historical Enquiries Team (HET) found that none of the Reavey family was connected with paramilitaries.

Dominic Bradley said the Reavey family had suffered from collusion twice, and asked Ian Paisley to retract his comment, within the lifetime of the Reavey's 88-year-old mother.

"Ian Paisley is known as 'the Big Man'... He now has the chance to show he is big in heart and mind," he said.