Brothers of murdered Derry man issue appeal to erect plaque in his memory

The brothers of a Derry man who was murdered six years ago have asked that they be allowed to erect a plaque in his memory outside the building where he was killed.

Paddy Harkin died in February 2011 after his neighbour, Paul Greatbanks attacked him with a hammer at his flat in Bayview Terrace.

Mr Harkin, who was 49, died as a result of head injuries inflicted by Greatbanks, who also left another man for dead in the same incident.

Greatbanks pleaded guilty to the murder of Mr Harking in 2013, and the attempted murder of another man, Paul Mythen, who was left permanently disabled as a result of the attack.

In the wake of his death, Mr Harkin’s brother erected a plaque at the building where he was murdered in Bayview Terrace.

However, while the plaque remained untouched for two years, it was removed during renovation of the building.

Mr Harkin’s brothers David, Raymond and John claim that they were told by those undertaking the renovations that the plaque would be put up again once work was complete.

John then discovered that the plaque had been dumped in a skip at an industrial yard in Derry.

After the plaque was recovered, the brothers erected the plaque at the building, after which it was removed again.

Earlier this year, on the sixth anniversary of Mr Harkin’s murder, the brothers left 12 yellow roses and tied the plaque to railings outside the building.

David Harkin told the Derry News that on this occasion, both the flowers and the plaque were removed, but they were able to locate the plaque at a local lettings office.

The brothers have now issued a direct appeal to the current owners of the building to allow them to erect the plaque outside the building as a permanent memorial to their brother.

Speaking to the Derry News on Friday, the brothers said that they have been frustrated in their attempts to locate the building’s owner, but hope that a public appeal may now aid them.

“I put the plaque up about a month after Patrick was murdered, but it was taken down during the renovations, but we were told that it would be put back up,” John Harkin told the Derry News.

“It didn’t and we then found out that the plaque had been dumped in a skip, which was very hurtful to us and we felt it was disrespectful to Paddy’s memory.

“We put the plaque back up ourselves then, and it was taken down again, but we managed to get it back.”

David Harkin added: “We just wish that we had been told that it was taken down because then we wouldn’t have needed to go looking for it.

“The third time they took it down, it was the sixth anniversary of Patrick’s murder, and we left 12 yellow roses and had tied the plaque at the railings, but they were taken away with the plaque too.”

The brothers said that they understand why the owners of the building may not want the plaque on the property itself, and have asked that they be instead allowed to erect the plaque at the railings outside the dwelling.

“We would be happy with that,” John continued.

“We do understand why they wouldn’t want the plaque on the building, but we wish that they could have come to us about it before we had to go searching for the plaque three times.

“If they had come to us and said, look, there’s people living in the building that don’t want the plaque up, we would have understood that. But to just take it down and throw it in a skip, there was no need for that.”

David Harkin continued that the despite the best efforts of their legal representatives, they had been unable to track down the property owners.

“It’s very frustrating and we feel that we have no one to talk to. As John said, we would be happy to have the plaque on the railings outside.

“All we want is to have a memorial to Paddy at the place where he died, somewhere where we can go and place flowers on his anniversary.”