Catherine Moore
BBC News Northern Ireland

Image source, Family pictures

That concludes our live page coverage of day three of the Omagh Bombing Inquiry.

Today we have heard about the life of aspiring student, 20-year-old Debra-Anne Cartwright who was "full of life and energy".

We also heard personal testimony from Gareth McCrystal, the son of "one in a million" mother Geraldine Breslin, 43, who was "his rock".

Gareth spoke about the effect that Geraldine's death had on him and the wider family.

We also heard from Shawneen Conway, the sister of 18-year-old Gareth Conway and how he was "a diligent, conscientious and humble young man" and " an extraordinary brother".

This live page was written by Ross McKee and me, Catherine Moore, with video from Rebekah Wilson. It was edited by Amy Stewart.

We will resume our coverage next week, when the inquiry is back.

Inquiry chairman Rt Hon Lord Turnbull now speaks in response to the tribute to Gareth.

He says it is "no surprise to learn he was accepted to study engineering at university".

He was a "modest" and "rounded" individual "with a number of interests in life," Lord Turnbull adds.

"As his sister said, he definitely had a bright future ahead of him."

Shawneen's evidence, Lord Turnbull says, tells us of "the wider effects of losing a loved one in such a cruel and violent fashion".

"It's therefore fitting that we should conclude this first week of the evidence sessions with such a potent reminder of the impact of the bombing, which this inquiry is seeking to learn more about," he says.

He thanks the Conway family for their assistance.

The commemorative and personal statement hearings will continue on Monday at 11am.

Image source, Family picture

Shawneen says that Gareth had a passion for woodwork and building things with his hands.

She says one of his most cherished accomplishments was building a beautiful replica of the village chapel out of wooden clothes pegs.

He was, she says, an "extraordinary brother".

She says he loved animals, especially dogs and was part of a "close family".

She says he loved playing football and gaelic football.

Gareth's sister adds that he had a girlfriend and had recently been accepted to study engineering at university.

Image source, Family picture

"At 18, he had all a young man would want, he was very happy and looking forward to the next stage of his life."

She says she has sought counselling to manage the "deep trauma his death left behind".

She says that since Gareth's death not one Christmas has been happy "or even bearable".

"The bombing didn't just take Gareth's life, it ripped our family apart."

Image source, family picture

The inquiry then hears from Shawneen Conway, the sister of Gareth Conway.

Gareth was an 18-year-old student who had just gained a place on an engineering course at university when he was killed.

Shawneen says that despite his young age, "he left behind a legacy of love, hard work and quiet strength that continues to be felt by those who knew him".

“Gareth was a diligent, conscientious and humble young man who approached everything he did with a sense of care and precision.”

The inquiry has just heard a commemoration of the life of 43-year-old Geraldine Breslin, who died from the injuries she sustained in the bombing.

We heard a powerful personal testimony from her son Gareth McCrystal, as well as a statement from her sister Rosemary, which was read out by Rosemary's daughter.

The inquiry will now hear a pen portrait about Gareth Conway, who was 18 when he was killed in the bombing.

Image source, Family picture

Geraldine was the "cornerstone of our family", Rosemary's statement says.

She had a greeting card for every occasion - and sometimes just sent them out of the blue.

She was a "loving daughter" and when she got married and moved house with Mark and Gareth she always phoned home every night at 9pm.

She was a "joy" to have had as a sister and a fantastic aunt, sister-in-law, wife and mother - and she loved her in-laws too.

"Our daddy felt guilty he could not save Geraldine especially as he had saved so many in the Second World War," Rosemary says. "Our mummy never got over the loss of Geraldine."

A presentation of photographs of Geraldine is played to the inquiry.

Geraldine studied at St Brigid's School and was class prefect.

She had a "lovely singing voice", Rosemary says in her statement.

Her favourite teacher was Mrs Grant who "taught her how to dance".

Geraldine then studied commerce at the tech.

The crowds at her wake were "incredible", Rosemary's statement says.

A man there told Rosemary that Geraldine had saved his two girls who had become separated from their mum on the day of the bomb.

Geraldine was able to reunite them and help them leave.

"This was probably the last act of kindness Geraldine did."

Image source, Family picture

Geraldine's sister Rosemary's statement continues.

One Saturday Rosemary "pulled a sickie" from her Irish dancing classes and Geraldine went in her place.

She won a china tea set with a raffle ticket Rosemary had bought the week before. Rosemary now has the six remaining pieces of the set.

"I always make sure I have a cup of tea in them on St Patrick's Day."

Rosemary and Geraldine shared a bedroom and Geraldine's feet were "like lumps of ice" and she used to try to warm them on Rosemary's back.

They would have tea and toast in bed on Saturday mornings and listen to Ireland's top 20.

Other memories include fishing for minnows in a local river, when they once had to "make a human chain" to pull another boy out after he fell in.

"We never mentioned this incident again as we were all so worried we would get into trouble for being in the river. I could not have pulled him out without Geraldine and my friends."

Image source, Family picture

Rosemary's statement (read by Geraldine's niece) continues to say that when Geraldine was about eight she was "fascinated" by a new teacher and how much food she would eat in class.

Her favourite book at this time was Emil and the Detectives.

Rosemary continues to recall memories of Geraldine at the carnival in Omagh one June, where she dressed up for the fancy dress parade in her Holy Communion outfit, and won second prize - half a crown.

"She was so excited and happy about that."

When the family's first black and white TV set arrived "it was just like having our own cinema".

The day of the Grand National the "house was full".

"Geraldine loved this as she loved entertaining. She was a very sociable girl."

One of the pictures shown of Geraldine as a child is above.

Image source, Family picture

The inquiry chairman, Lord Turnbull, thanks Gareth for his statement to the inquiry.

Joanie Beattie, a niece of Geraldine Breslin, is then introduced.

She reads a from Geraldine's sister, Rosemary Cooney.

Rosemary’s statement recalls Geraldine being brought home by her mother from the Tyrone County Hospital in Omagh as a new baby “wrapped in a pure white woollen blanket”.

She says she was four years older than Geraldine and they had been a “happy family of six” and she has “many happy memories of us all growing up”.

"From a young age Geraldine knew exactly what she liked and what she wanted to wear,” she adds.

She recalled queuing with Geraldine as a child at the Irish National Foresters' Hall ahead of a party at Christmas, when Brian Coll and the Plattermen entertained.

“One of the local showbands always provided the live music, I remember waiting with children among a group of children outside the hall waiting patiently for the doors to open.

“It seemed to have been taking ages.

“Geraldine was talking to me with her back towards the closed doors and suddenly the doors swung open and all of the children rushed forward, knocking Geraldine to the ground.

“I managed to pull her up to her feet as all the children rushed past, Geraldine was terrified.

“From then on, she hated being in a crowd."

Gareth says he had doubts that this day would ever come.

"That it has come is a great relief," he adds.

He says he hopes that the inquiry has the time and space to diligently conduct its inquiries.

He knows that there are outstanding questions from families and those in the wider community.

"I hope they find the answers. I hope I find the answers I am looking for," he adds.

He hopes it's a cathartic process and says that he was nervous about coming to the inquiry today.

"I have never spoken about my mother publicly. It has taken 26 years for me to do it," he says.

Gareth says it was important to be at the inquiry "to commemorate her and pay tribute to her".

The family wants everyone to know "what sort of woman she was, what she meant to the family and how much she is loved and missed".

Gareth closes by saying that it is "my privilege to be her son" and he feels lucky that they had 15 years together, though they should have had many more.

"I feel blessed that we knew each other. I'm honoured and proud to be her son."

His statement also says that it brings his family comfort that, in his mother's greatest of need, there were those who came to her aid "as she lay mortally wounded on the street".

"I would also pay tribute to those who went above and beyond to help their fellow man...either in a professional or civilian capacity," he adds.

Gareth is now telling the inquiry about the impact his mother's murder had on him.

He says that when he was about 20 he had to leave Omagh because there were "too many bad memories".

He says the bomb was "all people spoke about" and there was still "a large press interest and intrusion".

Gareth says he was angry and "extremely bitter", when he went to Birmingham to study computer science but he says that was an "ill-thought-out move".

He made some "fantastic friends" but began drinking "to escape the emotional baggage I was carrying with me."

By 2005 he had left university and came back home.

However he says he knew alcohol was "not the answer" and he has now been sober for 13 years.

He now has a "wonderful marriage" and "amazing" children and says he has "turned [his] life around."

But he says what he has achieved is "bittersweet because [his] mother is not here to witness it".

Geraldine would have got "a real thrill," seeing his life now.

"I wish she was here to see this."

Gareth says his grandparents were heart-broken by their daughter's death.

It "destroyed" his grandmother, he says, and his grandfather was "badly" affected.

"He felt like he should have been there to protect his daughter. They never really recovered."

His late aunt, Kate, was also heart-broken.

She was "larger than life" when Gareth knew her as a young boy but Geraldine's death "ruined" her.

"It was a terrible cross to bear for her as well."

Rosemary, another sister, was "profoundly affected" by Geraldine's death.

She married and moved away from Omagh and "lost a beloved sister and friend".

Finally Patricia, "lost her big sister", Gareth says.

Gareth confirms that in his statement he records that when his mother’s remains were returned to the family, some days later, he did not get to see her again, as her body had been placed in a coffin with a sealed lid.

“Mutilated and desecrated, so she was placed in a sealed coffin,” he says.

“We never saw her again.”

He says the denial of not getting to see his mother again was “pure torture”.

He says “thousands” attended his mother’s wake.

“People were queuing from the top bedroom, the whole way down the stairs, the hallway through the drive way and the whole way up the street," he adds.

“That went on for three days.

“That was an extremely humbling experience.”

With "extreme difficulty", Gareth and his father tried to continue with life.

But his father was struggling and was a "shell of the man he was".

Gareth went back to school, to the final year of high school, preparing for his GCSEs and so "had a distraction".

Everyone at school was "extremely kind," he remembers.

Gareth describes his father as "a good, decent man who didn't deserve this".

He tells the inquiry he did not see his mother after the bomb, when she was badly injured but still alive, which he says means he can remember her as she was.

"What was done to her was despicable and appalling. My mother was treated by the terrorists like she was rubbish.

"I have no desire to see my mother battered and bloodied and bruised."

Gareth says his father did see her and, when on the stretcher, said she "apologised to him for being caught up in this", which Gareth says was "typical of the person she was".

Gareth tells the inquiry that his mother's life touched many people, evidenced by how many came to her wake and shared their memories.

People who went to school with her, neighbours, people she worked with and friends all came.

"The numbers who came to pay their respects were truly colossal," Gareth says.

While the wake brought the family some comfort, Gareth tells the inquiry that the press "could have behaved themselves a lot better".

"It was a huge story, a worldwide story," he says.

"But along with all the other families our grief was in the public glare, under the microscope, and it was suffocating."

Image source, Family picture

Paul Greaney KC reads from Gareth’s statement when he says it was like the "world had ended and that his mother was his rock and his comfort blanket".

“I could not imagine existing without her,” the statement says.

“I was terrified by the thought of never seeing her again.

“The entire family was destroyed,” he adds.

The statement says that in the days after her death, Gareth felt that he was “just existing, rather than living”.

“I was absolutely terrified of never seeing her again,” Gareth tells the inquiry.

“I totally depended on her and it was absolutely frightening - the thought that she had been stolen from me and taken from me and from my father.”

Gareth says finding out his mother had died was the worst moment of his life.

"It does not compare to anything else," he tells the inquiry.

"I couldn't handle my emotions. I didn't handle it well. I don't know how anyone's meant to react. I was so young."

Gareth says that when he was told what had happened, he felt like he was going to be "physically sick".

"I felt like going out on the street and screaming."

His father, he says, was "devastated" and was "essentially having to restrain [Gareth] because [he] was just completely and utterly hysterical".

Gareth's grandfather's "shoulders were slumped forward", he says.

"He was totally devastated. I've never seen him like that before. He was looking at the ground.

"I said: 'Grandad, Mark has told me mum is dead. You need to tell me that that's impossible. Tell me she's alive, tell me there's been a terrible mistake.'"

Gareth says his grandfather "couldn't even speak" and at that point, he knew his mother had been killed.

"I collapsed on the stairs beside me, my head in my hands, crying like a baby."

Gareth fell asleep on his grandparents' sofa "some time after midnight," on the night of the bomb.

He was woken by a knock at the living room window.

It was his grandfather, along with his father, other family members and family priest.

"I was oblivious to what I was about to be told next," Gareth tells the inquiry. "My father imparted the worst possible news.

"He just put his arm around me and he told me: 'Geraldine is dead, your mother is dead' and I just couldn't digest the words he was telling me.

"I thought it was absolutely impossible and I said to him: 'You must have made a mistake. That is impossible what you're telling me right now.'

Gareth says he was "pleading" with his father at this point.

"I said to him: 'Did you see her?' And he said: 'Yes, I saw her, Gareth, she's dead.

"I did not take the news well. That would be an understatement."