Family statement

The trauma and grief that those individuals have put us through cannot be put into words. We have all heard on many occasions from other families in a similar situation that they have been given a life sentence and you do not fully understand what they felt.

Ask yourself, how would you feel? As far as we are concerned there will be no parole, no time off for good behaviour, and we will have to deal with this for the rest of our lives.

This was a premeditated crime: these thugs took the conscious decision to go on to the streets armed, they took the conscious decision to commit a robbery and they took the conscious decision to use a weapon.

We all think about Reamonn first thing in the morning and last thing at night and a hundred times in between; there has not been one day since the first of February that we have not experienced the profound sorrow and deep sense of loss of our son.

We struggle to come to terms with the knowledge that a loving and kind young man, who would without a doubt have made his mark in this world and would have continued to make a significant contribution to our society, is no longer with us, yet two individuals who have contributed nothing positive to society, but only spread fear and violence, will one day be free to walk our streets again.