The Aftermath

At 4pm, on 2 April 2011, a car bomb explodes in Omagh. It kills Constable Ronan Kerr, a 25 year old Catholic policeman intending to drive to work. He only graduated from the police college three weeks before. It’s been 13 years since the bombing and as tragic and repetitive as his death appears, much has changed. Ronan served in the PSNI, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the replacement for the much hated RUC, an organisation not known for attracting Catholics.And because the mass killings of the first Omagh bombing so revolted everyone and was so counter-productive, terrorism is no longer the daily threat it once was. And now, British soldiers no longer patrol the streets of Northern Ireland.On the streets of Omagh itself, life has largely returned to normal. You may notice occasionally that a shopper is missing a limb. Suzanne Travis, the young lady who had her foot removed by the blast while out shopping with her mother, has, along with her mother, adjusted to life with her injuries. And now Suzanne is married and has her own daughter.For some though, there can be no recovery."There was only one Anne" Stanley McCombe, who lost his best friend, his wife and mother of his two children