Opinion

Letter: I hope no more young lives will be wasted like the killer who shot my brother John

Off-duty policeman John Larmour was shot dead on October 11 1988

John Larmour was shot dead at an ice-cream parlour on the Lisburn Road in south Belfast in 1988
John Larmour was shot dead at an ice-cream parlour on the Lisburn Road in south Belfast in 1988
By Letters to the Editor

‘The saddest of all tragedies is a wasted life’

This is one of the many quotes attributed to the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle.

I look back on my own 75 years and often ask – was my life wasted?

I’ve spent many of those years remembering October 11.

That was the date in 1988 when my brother John was murdered for simply being an off-duty policeman and coincidentally a Protestant.

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The same date in 1974 was when legendary one-armed football player Jimmy Hasty was murdered for simply being a Catholic.

Former Dundalk striker Jimmy Hasty in action
Former Dundalk striker Jimmy Hasty in action

I wasn’t there to hold John as he died but I am glad I stopped and held Mr Hasty as he died on that cold pavement in Brougham Street. Letting him know that someone cared and didn’t hate him for being a Catholic.

It is also the date I buried my dad in 1989, who died of a broken heart after identifying his son’s lifeless body in the morgue.

Some might consider I have wasted my life writing letters and articles in newspapers every October remembering John. Many will take to their online accounts and post comments like “not him again”.

Unless they had a family member murdered, in my estimation they have no authority to have an opinion on the matter.

John Larmour and his younger brother George as children
John Larmour and his younger brother George as children

Too many victims are considered easily forgotten statistics in the long list of Troubles lost lives. I will not allow people to forget so easily.

I will continue to remind people of not just the name John Larmour but hopefully to remember all victims whose names the government would prefer to be swept under the blood-soaked, legacy carpet of deceit. Some local politicians also have convenient, one-sided, selective memories of perpetrators.

I didn’t waste my 75 years and am content with the life I have lived.

I have never carried hate in my heart and certainly not for anyone born into a different religion through no choice of theirs.

RUC constable John Larmour was shot dead at an ice-cream parlour on the Lisburn Road in south Belfast in 1988
RUC constable John Larmour was shot dead at an ice-cream parlour on the Lisburn Road in south Belfast in October 1988

I’m glad I didn’t choose to be a killer like the person who shot John.

My brother’s murder was a tragedy for our family but as Aristotle said, the saddest of all tragedies was the wasted life of the person who killed John.

I hope no more young lives will be wasted, having to look back in their old age, asking what was it all for?

George Larmour, Author of ‘They Killed the Ice Cream Man’, Belfast

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