Legal wait is ‘second trauma’ for victims’ loved ones

There are nights Jack McCullough can’t get to sleep thinking about his friends; when Jimmy Bradley’s house falls silent and his thoughts turn to his son Morgan’s last moments; when Eamon Currie remembers the “harrowing” scenes outside the Greenvale Hotel.

Almost seven years ago their lives, and the lives of many others, changed forever.

A deadly crush outside a County Tyrone hotel resulted in the deaths of three teenagers – Lauren Bullock, Mr Bradley’s son Morgan Barnard and Mr Currie’s son Connor Currie.

Now, Jack, a close friend of Morgan and Connor, and the fathers of those two victims say legal delays in the case is causing a second trauma as their search for answers goes on.

Two men – Michael McElhatton, the hotel’s owner, and Seamus Mitchell – have been charged with unlawful killing over the incident in Cookstown, County Tyrone, on 17 March 2019.

But, with no trial date set and lawyers for the accused attempting to have the case dismissed, the families feel they have been “left in the dark”.

Mr Currie, in his first broadcast interview since the loss of his son, told BBC News NI’s The State of Us podcast he apologises to his son for not yet getting answers whenever he visits his grave.

Mr Bradley described the delay as “shocking”, adding he felt “let down” that Justice Minister Naomi Long had turned down requests from the families for a meeting.

A Department of Justice spokesperson said the justice minister is “deeply saddened” by the tragedy but that it would be “inappropriate for the minister to become involved in individual cases or to comment of the court proceedings” given it is “live in the courts”.

For Jack McCullough and the families of the victims, the seven-year wait for answers means lessons cannot be learned.

“If I don’t know how this happened, and the authorities don’t know how this happened – what caused this – then how can you put something in place to prevent it happening again?,” said Mr Currie.

On 17 March 2019, hundreds of young people arrived at the hotel for a St Patrick’s Day disco.

At about 21:30 GMT a crush developed as large numbers of people queued outside the venue, with one eyewitness describing a rush forward, in which “the whole queue collapsed and everyone fell to the ground”.

Lauren Bullock, 17, Morgan Barnard, 17, and 16-year-old Connor Currie died.

Mr McCullough travelled to the disco on a bus with Morgan. He was wearing a short-sleeve shirt and recalled telling his friend he was “freezing” on his way into the venue.

“He didn’t say nothing to me, he just took off the jacket that he was wearing and gave me his jacket and I put it on and, obviously, when he passed away I was wearing that jacket,” he said.

He recalled the crush being so severe his arms were pinned to his side and he couldn’t get his phone out of his pocket to call for help.

“There’s survivor’s guilt immediately after. You’re like: ‘My two friends are gone and I’m still here and it doesn’t sit right with me that that’s the case.’

“I’ve went on to do my A-levels, went to university and now I live in London and I’m getting life opportunities that they didn’t get – and that to me is deeply unfair.”

A year after the crush, police described the investigation as “complex” with “substantial amounts of evidence” involving CCTV, mobile phone footage and more.

In 2022, Michael McElhatton, of Rock Road, Moneymore, and Seamus Mitchell, of Mullan Road, Coagh, were charged with a number of offences, including a joint charge of unlawful killing.

Lawyers for both men have lodged a no bill application, which argues neither men have a case to answer.

That application is still being considered by the courts.

Statistics from 2023-2024 indicate that the average time taken for a charge case to be dealt with at Crown Court was 551 days, or about a year and a half.

Almost seven years on from what happened at Greenvale, and more than seven months on from the last court date, Mr Bradley and Mr Currie said the families feel out of the loop.

Mr Bradley said the families asked the justice minister for a meeting three years ago, which she refused due a pending decision from prosecutors on whether to bring charges.

A further request for a meeting since, he said, was turned down due to charges having been brought and the case being live before the courts.

However, he insisted, the families do not want to discuss the live case, but rather the ongoing issues with legal delays and the amount of time the process is taking.

A Department of Justice spokesperson said that while it was “inappropriate” for the minister to meet while the case is before the courts, she “is always willing to meet with victims at the conclusion of proceedings to understand their experiences of the process and to seek to make improvements”.

A spokesperson for the Lady Chief Justice said it was not appropriate for her to comment on an individual case before the court but a listing date for a ruling in the no bill application is expected soon.

For the families, the time the case is taking through the legal system has taken a toll, as well as the many young people who could be asked to give evidence at a future trial, Mr Bradley and Mr Currie add.

“To open that wound on those young people – that’s hard, that’s tough,” said Mr Currie, who described the fortitude of Connor’s young friends following the tragedy as “amazing”.

But it is a mutual feeling.

Mr McCullough describes the “closeness” he feels to the families as a parting gift from Morgan and Connor.

The ongoing delay, however, means that “the families can’t just move on” while those who were there “have this hanging over them at all times”, he said.

“I guess for everyone involved in this, it’s still an open wound, and it will continue to be so until something changes.”

You can listen to more of Jimmy Bradley and Eamon Currie’s story on The State of Us now via BBC Sounds – a second episode featuring interviews with Jack McCullough and Darragh Dalton will be available later on Tuesday.