New witness claims Michael McIlveen killer confessed knife was used in attack, family says Michael McIlveen was fatally attacked in Ballymena, Co Antrim, in May 2006 Maeve Connolly
The alley in Ballymena town centre where Michael McIlveen was attacked. Picture by Declan Roughan
A NEW witness has come forward to claim one of Michael McIlveen s killers confessed that a knife had been used in the 2006 sectarian attack, his family has revealed.
Michael McIlveen was 15 when he was chased by a gang of youths in Ballymena and struck on the head with a baseball bat, inflicting catastrophic brain injuries.
In light of the new information the schoolboy s family has written to the coroner to ask for an inquest.
Gina McIlveen This is something that we think about all the time - that one of our relatives will encounter Mervyn Moon again, said a spokesperson for the McIlveen family. We know that he has been up in Ballymena when he has been out before. It s only a matter of time before this happens again. Michael is 15 years dead this May, but the pain of losing him is still the same. Mervyn Moon is still making us suffer all these years later.
While the McIlveen family bravely battle to get on with life, Moon has no such troubles.
Despite still technically being a serving prisoner, he has found love with a girlfriend, who has been paying visits to the hostel in north Belfast the killer now calls home. Like her murdering boyfriend, she also has a liking for drugs. Three years ago she admitted stockpiling 900 diazepam-style tablets in her home which were found during a police raid.