‘I was face to face with a former IRA terrorist’

For decades Sara-Louise Martin lived with loss and battled with unforgiveness related to her father’s death. Then, in the summer of 2022, she was faced with a challenging opportunity to step into freedom and healing

On 4 November 1984 my dad was killed by the Irish Republican Army (IRA). I was 13 months old. My mum was six weeks pregnant with my brother. 

My dad was the youngest serving police officer to reach the rank of inspector in Northern Ireland. On the day of the tragedy he was at a training course at the University of Ulster, well known for their IRA sympathies. A bomb had been planted in the ceiling of the lecture room; it went undetected by those carrying out the sweep of the room at the start of the lecture (that bomb sweeps took place so regularly says a lot about the level of risk).