Creeslough: Dad to keep promise to daughter 'even in death'

Leona Harper's coat still hangs in the hallway of her family home.

The soil from the pitch of the last game she played is still on her rugby boots.

Four years on from the Creeslough explosion that claimed the 14-year-old schoolgirl's life, along with nine others, her father says their family remains "desperate for answers" about the events of that day.

No official explanation has been given for the cause of the explosion, and no one has been charged in connection with the blast despite a number of arrests.

Gardaí (Irish police) sent a second file to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in April which is in addition to the primary file it forwarded to prosecutors last September.

A commemoration service will be held on Wednesday in Creeslough for the 10 victims of the explosion.

Leona had travelled to the village for a sleepover.

She had been going to the shop at the service station for ice-cream when the blast occurred.

Hugh Harper said that four years on, the family feels no closer to the truth about what happened to his daughter.

"You are trying to establish answers yourself - but it takes you down a maze of rabbit holes," he told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme .

"One question leads to another and it just feels like torture and torment.

"We go home every evening to a house that's not the same - we are still trying to adjust to that.

"You never expect something like this to come to your door as a parent and when it does, and it was so sudden, it is very hard."

The Harpers, along with other victims and their families are campaigning for a public inquiry into the Creeslough explosion.

Hugh Harper said he believes a public inquiry is the only path to the full facts.

"We are steadfast on that - a public inquiry is the only tool to compel people to be questioned under oath and get definitive answers.

"Leona went to Creeslough on a Friday afternoon and went into a shop - that's the last we seen or heard of her alive.

"Every day, we grieve for our little girl - we are stuck on the 7th October 2022.

"When I get up in the morning, the first thought I have is about Leona and the questions around her last moments.

"Until we have answers - our grief is frozen in time."

Harper said the family will travel to Creeslough on Wednesday to remember their daughter and the other victims.

"When Leona was born, I was the first to hold her.

"I made her a promise that I would keep her safe and not let anything happen to her and unfortunately, I couldn't keep that promise.

"But even though Leona is not physically here, I feel she is still with me.

"And I will continue with the promise, even in death. I will do my best to protect her name and get to the bottom of exactly what happened in Creeslough that day.

In a statement to BBC News NI, a spokesperson for the Irish Department of Justice said:

"As the fourth anniversary of the Creeslough explosion tragedy approaches Minister [Jim] O'Callaghan's thoughts continue to be with the families, loved ones, survivors and the wider community of Creeslough.

"The focus of the Creeslough investigation remains on ensuring that the investigative processes are allowed to proceed independently and without prejudice so that the full facts can be established."

Gardaí said "the victims, their families and the community are in our thoughts" on the anniversary.

"An Garda Síochána continues to appeal to any person with any information in relation to the fatal explosion – to please come forward and speak to the garda investigation team."

A spokesperson for Ireland's Director of Public Prosecutions said it does not comment on individual cases.

The 10 victims of the explosion included four men, three women, two teenagers and a five-year-old girl - all from the village or surrounding areas.

Those who died were Robert Garwe and his five-year-old daughter Shauna Flanagan-Garwe; Catherine O'Donnell and her 13-year-old son James Monaghan; Jessica Gallagher; Martin McGill; James O'Flaherty; Martina Martin; Hugh Kelly; and 14-year-old Leona Harper.

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