Chairman of Prison Officer’s Federation brands attackers as cowards

The Chairman of Prison Officers Federation has branded those responsible for an attack on a prison officer’s home as “cowards and scumbags”.

The condemnation follows an attack on a prison officer’s home in north Belfast which resulted in the man’s wife undergoing surgery to remove shrapnel from her back. The couple’s four-year-old daughter also sustained injuries during the incident.

The attack has been claimed by the Red Hand Defenders, a cover name used in the past by the UDA and LVF.

The device, which police said appeared to be a pipe bomb, was thrown through the living room window of the house in Westway Park on the outskirts of the city in the Ballygomartin area on Sunday, January 6, at around 10pm.

The Prison Officers Federation Northern Ireland chairman Finlay Spratt condemned the attack. Speaking on Monday, January 7, Mr Spratt said: “I am very angry that such an attack, with the obvious intent to kill and injure was carried out on one of our prison officers. The men who were seen at the scene of the crime are nothing but cowards and scumbags. However this is not the only attack. Other people are being hurt in the same way. The people who are doing this are walking around with immunity. No one is being held to account. The police must galvanise all their resources to capture the people who doing these terrible attacks.”

Northern Ireland Security Minister Jane Kennedy also condemned the pipe bomb attack. She said: “This attack on a prison officer and his wife and young child is despicable and utterly contemptible. The terrorists who carried out this attack are cowards and are the enemies of everyone in Northern Ireland. Anyone with any information about this attack should contact the police immediately.” (AMcE)