Militant Found Guilty of Attack in N. Ireland

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — A militant Protestant was convicted Friday of murdering three Roman Catholic brothers in a gasoline-bomb attack on their home last year.

But police said they will continue to seek evidence to convict others believed to have been involved in one of the most infamous attacks in Northern Ireland’s recent history.

Garfield Gilmour, a 24-year-old farm equipment salesman, was given three life sentences for his role in the July 1998 attack.

Justice William McCollum also gave Gilmour two 12-year sentences for his role in wounding the boys’ mother and a teenage friend, both of whom escaped from the burning row house in the predominantly Protestant town of Ballymoney, 40 miles northwest of Belfast.

The horrible deaths of Richard Quinn, 11, Mark, 10, and Jason, 9--who screamed for their mother after being trapped by flames and smoke in an upstairs bedroom--caused worldwide revulsion.