A PENSIONER in the North of Ireland is taking her local Council to court for its part in naming a playground after an IRA man who was linked to her son’s murder.
Great-great-grandmother Bea Worton, 88, is determined to have the decision by Newry, Mourne and Down District Council reversed.
Her son Kenneth Worton was one of 10 people killed in the Kingmills Massacre in 1976.
Five months after the killings, Raymond McCreesh was arrested for possession of one of the rifles used in the massacre.
Naming the playground in Newry, Raymond McCreesh Park, after him has caused a division in the community.
“It really says something about this country when an 88-year-old grandmother has to take two government bodies to court on this,” Ms Worton’s son Colin told The News Letter.
Now, the prosecutor is claiming that Newry, Mourne and Down council is in breach of its own equality scheme in naming the playground after McCreesh.
Mrs Worton’s legal action has been commended by unionist parties in the North, with UUP politician Danny Kennedy saying: “I fully support Mrs Worton in her legal action but it is a sad indictment of the Equality Commission that an elderly, widowed and grieving mother should have to take this step.”
But Sinn Féin has branded the support a “cheap electoral stunt”.
The legal process is now underway.
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