Downpatrick man hopeful dad’s killers will be caught

Downpatrick man hopeful dad’s killers will be caught

14 August 2019

THE son of a Downpatrick man who was murdered in a knife attack in London 17 years ago says he is still hopeful his killers will face justice. 

Thomas Breen (50) died on August 11, 2002, after he was brutally knifed in the chest by two male attackers in an unprovoked attack outside a pub in Camden.

No one has ever been charged in connection with the murder of the husband and father of two. 

Stephen Breen, a former Sunday Life reporter and now a Dublin-based crime journalist with the Irish Sun, was 29 at the time of his father’s death.

He said police investigating the case had concluded that his father — who was known as Tom — was a victim of a random attack. 

In the summer of 2002 Camden was in the grip of a violent crime wave which saw six people murdered in a string of unrelated killings.

Speaking on the anniversary of his father’s death, Stephen said his family’s desire for justice has never wavered. 

He said: “It is hard to believe. It was a terrible event that happened and it never leaves you.

“Seventeen years on and we have learned to live with it. You learn to cope. You can’t dwell on it.

“I still miss my dad. I think about him all the time, but I’m not going to let the people that did this destroy our lives.”

He continued: “I don’t hate the people who did this. I don’t think about them and I’m conscious of the fact if they did this to my dad, then they may have targeted someone else. 

“I always carry hope there will be justice at the end of the day. Nothing’s going to bring him back, but I certainly don’t hate these people.”

Mr Breen had been working in London as a builder when he was targeted. A work colleague, who was with him, was wounded but escaped serious injury. 

Over the years attempts have been made to close the investigation by the Metropolitan Police. Substantial rewards have also been offered in a bid to apprehend the killers. 

A number of politicians, including labour MP Sir Keir Starmer, a former director of Public Prosecutions, have publicly asked for the case to be reviewed. 

Stephen says he knows of dozens of families in the UK and Ireland who have never got justice for their loved ones and that he has come across cases which have been solved decades later.

He is hopeful that his father’s murder will be one of them. 

Paying tribute to his dad, Stephen added: “He was such a caring father, he was more like a friend to me. I remember a happy home and his humour. He was a gentleman.”