The Friends of the Mc Daid Family Appeal are calling for an end to the sectarian intimidation of the Mc Daid family.The call follows the news that Evelyn Mc Daid and her family have been forced to move from their Coleraine home following the ongoing campaign of sectarian harassment of the family since the murder of Kevin Mc Daid in May this year.

The Group are also demanding that Mark and Ryan Mc Daid are released on bail following the decision of the PSNI to charge them with making threats against one of those charged in relation to the events surrounding the murder of Kevin Mc Daid.'' The decision to refuse bail to Ryan and Mark Mc Daid is in sharp contrast to how the bail applications of  many of those accusedof involvement in the murder of Kevin Mc Daid were treated'' A spokesperson for the Appeal has also called on the new Victims Commissioners to meet with the family to discuss ways in which their safety can we guaranteed. "We will be contacting the Commissioners this week to ask them to meet with the Mc Daid family".

From Relatives for Justice:

'It was subsequently reported in London's Private Eye that Nelson's role in traveling to South Africa and purchasing the weapons for loyalists had been approved by a member of the British Cabinet at the time.'

'Loyalists were re-armed in late 1987 when MI5's Force Research Unit (FRU) dispatched their agent Brian Nelson with the proceeds of a Northern Bank robbery in Portadown to South Africa to purchase a shipment of weapons that had initially been destined for the PLO. The ship being previously intercepted by the South African apartheid regime at the request of the Israeli government.

'It was subsequently reported in London's Private Eye that Nelson's role in traveling to South Africa and purchasing the weapons for loyalists had been approved by a member of the British Cabinet at the time.

'As a direct consequence of the importation of these weapons loyalists embarked on an unprecedented period of sectarian and political assassinations in which numerous others aspects of official collusion, apart from providing weapons, is well evidenced and documented. Loyalists are responsible for more deaths from this period onwards than any other participant to the conflict.