The following is an excerpt from the 11 July 2008 Irish news article by Barry McCaffrey.  Please click on the link to read the article in its entirety.

Paul McIlwaine has spent the past eight years fighting to bring his son’s killers to justice.

In February 2000 David McIlwaine (18) and his friend Andrew Robb (19) were lured to a lonely country road near Tandragee in Co Armagh and brutally stabbed to death.

Almost immediately speculation emerged that at least some of those involved were police agents.

Last month the McIlwaine and Robb families were outraged when it emerged that one of the main suspects had murder charges against him withdrawn in exchange for agreeing to give evidence against his co-accused.

“After David’s murder we were like every other family who has lost a loved one in that we didn’t know what to do. We were just in shock,’’ Mr McIlwaine said.

“Our solicitor actually had to tell us that we would be entitled to a £7,500 bereavement payment.

“That money would cover little more than the funeral and a headstone for David’s grave, but at least it was something.”

The family were angered when they were informed by the NIO that they were not entitled to any bereavement money because their son was over 18 and self-employed.

“It was never about money. I don’t know of a family who have lost someone who wouldn’t sell everything they own just to have their loved one back with them.

“To be honest we were going to drop the whole thing but our solicitor encouraged us to fight it.

“It took a year and a half, but eventually we won. The NIO ended up paying twice what it would have done.”

However, Paul McIlwaine’s attempts to come to terms with his son’s murder led to the collapse of his satellite TV firm, with the family eventually being forced to sell their Co Armagh home.

“After David’s murder I just couldn’t work,” he said.

“I was an emotional wreck and was fighting a constant battle to expose the fact that David’s killers were being protected. I fell into serious arrears with the mortgage and nearly lost the house two or three times.

“I knew that eventually the house would be repossessed so I told the DHSS that I wanted to sell the house and give half of it to my surviving two children to help them through university.

“But the DHSS told me I couldn’t do this.

“Even when we did finally get selling our home, the DHSS refused to allow me to claim income support.

“I was an emotional wreck who had gone bust and been forced to sell my own home but the way the system works meant that I was caught in catch 22.

“It took a two-year battle with the DHSS for me to be allowed to claim income support. I couldn’t have got through it without the support of the Belfast Law Centre.”

Despite being forced to move his family into rented accommodation, Mr McIlwaine said he did not blame civil servants for his predicament.

“My family is no more special than anyone else who has lost a loved one. We never asked for special treatment, nor would we want it.

“There were a lot of good people in the DHSS and other government departments who did everything they could to help us but their hands were tied.

“The system is set up in such a way that it punishes victims’ families who find themselves in financial strife through no fault of their own.

“There needs to be a change in the legislation so that victims are not punished because of the financial loss of their loved ones.”