Statement by TUV Mourne council candidate Harold McKee:
“We now know that the man who urinated and spat on a memorial to First World War VC hero Robert Hill Hanna and destroyed wreaths at an other memorial had previously mocked an attack on the Narrow Water Massacre memorial. This shows just how wrong the district judge was when he said he was “not convinced” the Kilkeel attack was a hate crime.
“Ronan Campbell’s mocking of the 2018 attack on the Narrow Water Memorial by posting laughing emojis and an extract from an IRA song below a post about the attack on Facebook shows that he has form when it comes to attacks on memorials.
“Of course, the 2018 social media comments are not something the judge in the Kilkeel case should or even could have known about, but they are a telling insight to the kind of character Ronan Campbell is.
“This incident has caused huge hurt in Kilkeel and damaged community relations. I trust that the powers that be will deal with such matters seriously going forward.
“I am pleased that my party has already raised the issue with the Lady Chief Justice asking her to review the case.”