Overend welcomes conviction in thirty two year old murder of RUC officer John Proctor

Ulster Unionist MLA Sandra Overend has welcomed the conviction of a man for the murder of RUC Reservist John Proctor as he left the Mid-Ulster hospital in September 1981.

Mrs Overend, who represents Mid-Ulster, said:

 "The murder of RUC Reservist John Proctor in September 1981 as he left a hospital where he had just been to visit his wife and new born son, was a particularly callous and cruel crime, even by the awful standards of the time.

"Republican apologists today seek to rewrite history by portraying the IRA’s failed campaign as some kind of war fought by brave warriors. The murder of John Proctor exposes that as a total and utter lie. A family was left devastated as a result of the cowardly actions of a gang of murderers and 32 years later that family is still having to deal with the consequences of that dreadful night. That is the reality of the IRA’s campaign of violence.   

"It is also a stark reminder of the risks that were run on a daily basis throughout the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s - both on and off duty - by the men and women who donned the uniform of the RUC, the UDR and the Prison service. We owe them a debt that can never be repaid.”

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