Creeslough father marks fourth anniversary of daughter's death with call for public inquiry

Four years after an explosion tore through a service station in the County Donegal village of Creeslough, the father of one of the ten victims has spoken of a grief that remains unresolved and a family still searching for the truth.

Leona Harper was 14 years old when she died in the blast on 7 October 2022. She had travelled to the village for a sleepover and was going to the shop at the service station to buy ice-cream when the explosion occurred. Nine other people also lost their lives that day.

Hugh Harper, Leona's father, said the family's home still bears the traces of her life. Her coat remains hanging in the hallway. Soil from the pitch where she played her last rugby match is still caked on her boots. Her bedroom has been left untouched. For the Harpers, these are not simply mementos but reminders of the absence that fills the house every day.

"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." He described returning each evening to a home that is "not the same," a place the family is still struggling to adjust to.

Four years on, no official explanation has been given for what caused the explosion, and no one has been charged in connection with it despite a number of arrests. Gardaí, the Irish police force, sent a second file to the Director of Public Prosecutions in April, in addition to the primary file forwarded to prosecutors last September.

Hugh Harper said the lack of answers has left the family feeling trapped in the events of that day. "Leona went to Creeslough on a Friday afternoon and went into a shop - that's the last we seen or heard of her alive," he said. "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."

The Harpers, together with other victims' families, are campaigning for a public inquiry into the explosion. In July, a meeting was held in Dublin between families and Taoiseach Micheál Martin. Harper believes such an inquiry is the only mechanism capable of establishing the full facts. "A public inquiry is the only tool to compel people to be questioned under oath and get definitive answers," he said. "We are steadfast on that."

A commemoration service will be held on Wednesday in Creeslough to remember the ten victims. Harper said the family will attend to honour their daughter and the others who died. He recalled being the first to hold Leona when she was born, and the promise he made to keep her safe. "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," he said. "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."

The explosion caused extensive damage to the service station, blowing apart much of the roof and exposing broken wooden trusses, a large metal beam and partly collapsed internal block walls. Emergency workers in protective suits and helmets were photographed on cherry-picker platforms suspended above the devastated scene as they assessed the wreckage.

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

Gardaí also said on the anniversary that "the victims, their families and the community are in our thoughts." The force reiterated its appeal for anyone with information about the fatal explosion to come forward and speak to the investigating officers.

For the families of the ten victims, the passage of four years has not brought closure. The absence of a definitive explanation, combined with the slow pace of the prosecutorial process, has left them in what Harper describes as a state of suspended grief. The commemoration on Wednesday will be a moment of collective remembrance for Creeslough, but for the Harpers it will also be another reminder of the promise Hugh Harper says he will keep: to protect his daughter's name and to leave no stone unturned in the search for what happened on that October afternoon.