Soldier Mark Quinsey murder: Sister's anguish at Real IRA items online
Mark Quinsey Funeral
CELTIC drums, clocks, handkerchiefs and T-shirts emblazoned with republican slogans and masked gunmen are being touted for sale online.
The items are being sold by a group which supports the Real IRA, the hardline dissidents who killed Birmingham hero Mark Quinsey.
The Concerned Group for Republican Prisoners say the items have been crafted by convicted terrorists in Portlaoise Jail in the Irish Republic.
Real IRA terror chief Michael McKivett is among those being held at the jail.
The CGRP refer to the inmates as prisoners of war and offer potential purchasers the chance to have their souvenirs personalised by the terrorists.
The 32 Counties Movement, the political wing of the Real IRA, is also selling the items on social networking site Bebo.
The range includes a signed handkerchief featuring a gunman brandishing an AK 47, like the one used to murder Mark, priced at 16.50 euros (£15) and a Celitc drum featuring 1970s republican hunger striker Bobby Sands for 105 euro (£99).
Mark, who served as a Sapper with the 38 Engineer Regiment, was shot down outside Massereene Barracks in Antrim as he took delivery of a pizza on March 7.
His comrade Sapper Patrick Azimkar, 21, was killed as the murderers fired 60 bullets at the pair hours before they were due to leave for duty in Afghanistan.
Last night Mark’s elder sister Jaime, 25, from Highters Heath, said: “Why are they making these sick items and who is buying them? I am disgusted that it is allowed to go on and there is nobody trying to stop it.
“People can see the devastation the death of my brother has caused for my family. How many more have to die? As far as I can see these terrorists think they are higher than the law.
“Making these items should be illegal and if people are wearing the items like the T-shirts they should be arrested, it is stirring up hatred and it is completely wrong. There are such evil people in this world.”
The murders of two soldiers and police officer Stephen Paul Carroll, two days later, have caused outrage and fear across Northern Ireland.
Their killings have been seen as an attempt by dissident republican factions to drag the province back into the darkest days of The Troubles.
Their deaths have been condemned by all factions, including Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland and former leader of the Provisional IRA Martin McGuinness. Northern Ireland has made huge political progress since the Good Friday Agreement.
And Jaime said she fears her brother wasn’t given adequate protection from the dangers that still lurk there.
She said: “They were alerted that something could happen but still the soldiers weren’t given any protection. There were no armed guards on the barracks. The gunmen came in following the pizza delivery van.
“My brother could have been given a bullet proof vest, they could have done something, he was shot 13 times including in the neck, but the shot that killed him was in the chest. Maybe a vest would have saved his life.
“When I found out he was dead all I could think was, I hope he wasn’t in pain or scared. Can you imagine staring at masked gunmen spraying bullets at you?
“It terrifies me. It upsets me to think of him suffering like that.”
The devastating news was broken to Jaime, a personal trainer, in the first few weeks of a year-long travel adventure.
“When I was told Mark had been shot I thought it had happened in Afghanistan, I thought oh my God, he has only just got there and this has happened, I was shocked to find out it was in Northern Ireland. I was absolutely devastated,” she said.
“Mark and I have always been close. I last spoke to him on the phone when I was Heathrow waiting to fly out to Thailand and he was telling me to be careful.
“He sounded so happy, he told me he was with a girl and he was enjoying his last few days before going to Afghanistan.
“I told him I was really worried, but he said he was OK and that it was his job and his duty.
