'Until we have answers - our grief is frozen in time' - dad of teenager killed in explosion

Hugh Harper - a man with short, blonde hair - sits on a sofa with his arm around his teenager daughter Leona Harper.  She has long, straight fair hair and is wearing aviator sunglasses on her head.   Both are looking at each other and smiling affectionately.  Hugh is wearing a red and white Arsenal football jersey.Family photo

Leona Harper's coat still hangs in the hallway of her family home.

The soil from the pitch of the last game she played is still on her rugby boots.

Her bedroom remains untouched.

Four years on from the Creeslough explosion that claimed the 14-year-old schoolgirl's life, along with nine others, her father says their family remains "desperate for answers" about the events of that day.

The blast happened at a service station in the County Donegal village on 7 October 2022.

No official explanation has been given for the cause of the explosion, and no one has been charged in connection with the blast despite a number of arrests.

Gardaí (Irish police) sent a second file to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in April which is in addition to the primary file it forwarded to prosecutors last September.

A commemoration service will be held on Wednesday in Creeslough for the 10 victims of the explosion.

'It just feels like torture'

Leona Harper - a teenage girl with long, fair hair - kneels on top of an exterior wall while leaning against her father's shoulder.  She is wearing a black tracksuit and holding a mobile phone in a leather-type cover.  Her father Hugh Harper has short, grey hair and is wearing a blue polo shirt.Family photo

Leona had travelled to the village for a sleepover.

She had been going to the shop at the service station for ice-cream when the blast occurred.

Hugh Harper said that four years on, the family feels no closer to the truth about what happened to his daughter.

"You are trying to establish answers yourself - but it takes you down a maze of rabbit holes", he told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme.

"One question leads to another and it just feels like torture and torment.

"We go home every evening to a house that's not the same - we are still trying to adjust to that.

"You never expect something like this to come to your door as a parent and when it does, and it was so sudden, it is very hard."

The Harpers, along with other victims and their families are campaigning for a public inquiry into the Creeslough explosion.

In July, a meeting was held between families and the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Micheál Martin in Dublin.

'Our grief is frozen in time'

Hugh Harper said he believes a public inquiry is the only path to the full facts.

"We are steadfast on that - a public inquiry is the only tool to compel people to be questioned under oath and get definitive answers.

"Leona went to Creeslough on a Friday afternoon and went into a shop - that's the last we seen or heard of her alive.

"Every day, we grieve for our little girl - we are stuck on the 7th October 2022.

"When I get up in the morning, the first thought I have is about Leona and the questions around her last moments.

"Until we have answers - our grief is frozen in time."

Harper said the family will travel to Creeslough on Wednesday to remember their daughter and the other victims.

"When Leona was born, I was the first to hold her.

"I made her a promise that I would keep her safe and not let anything happen to her and unfortunately, I couldn't keep that promise.

"But even though Leona is not physically here, I feel she is still with me.

"And I will continue with the promise, even in death.

"I will do my best to protect her name and get to the bottom of exactly what happened in Creeslough that day.

"I will leave no stone unturned."

Two emergency workers dressed in black and yellow protective suits and yellow helmets stand on a cherry picker-type platform which is suspended above the scene of an explosion. Much of the roof of the building they are overlooking has been blown apart, exposing broken wooden trusses, a large metal beam and internal block walls, which have partly fallen.

In a statement to BBC News NI, a spokesperson for the Irish Department of Justice said:

"As the fourth anniversary of the Creeslough explosion tragedy approaches Minister [Jim] O'Callaghan's thoughts continue to be with the families, loved ones, survivors and the wider community of Creeslough.

"The focus of the Creeslough investigation remains on ensuring that the investigative processes are allowed to proceed independently and without prejudice so that the full facts can be established."

The gardaí said in statement that "as the fourth anniversary approaches of the fatal explosion in Creeslough, the victims, their families and the community are in our thoughts".

"An Garda Síochána continues to appeal to any person with any information in relation to the fatal explosion – to please come forward and speak to the garda investigation team."

A spokesperson for Ireland's Director of Public Prosecutions said it does not comment on individual cases.

Who were the Creeslough victims?

Those who died were Robert Garwe and his five-year-old daughter Shauna Flanagan-Garwe, 14-year-old Leona Harper,  Hugh Kelly, Jessica Gallagher, Martin McGill, James O'Flaherty, Martina Martin, and Catherine O'Donnell and her 13-year-old son James Monaghan

The 10 victims of the explosion included four men, three women, two teenagers and a five-year-old girl - all from the village or surrounding areas.

Those who died were Robert Garwe and his five-year-old daughter Shauna Flanagan-Garwe; Catherine O'Donnell and her 13-year-old son James Monaghan; Jessica Gallagher; Martin McGill; James O'Flaherty; Martina Martin; Hugh Kelly; and 14-year-old Leona Harper.

Original source 'Until we have answers - our grief is frozen in time' - dad of teenager killed in explosion

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