The scandalous article quoted heavily from anonymous sources in a bid to execute a bitter and unwarranted character assassination on someone who could not respond.

It is obviously easy to make accusations about someone who is not in a position to defend himself but those responsible obviously had no thought for Darren Murphy's family.

The article erroneously holds Darren Murphy responsible for dealing the fatal blow to policeman Greg Taylor who was killed in Ballymoney in 1997.

As one of those charged, convicted and sentenced for the incident, I can confirm that Darren Murphy played no part in the incident whatsoever.

Indeed, he was not charged with any part in it, he was not sentenced for any part in it and everyone familiar with the case knows he had nothing to do with it .

If he was in the vicinity of the incident, then he was but one of many who were out for the night that evening. If, as the article suggests, Darren Murphy was responsible for the death of Constable Taylor, why did the police not prosecute him?

Darren Murphy was to the fore in many things, especially organising charity events and raising money for those in need.

None of this appears in the article where facts have been sacrificed to make way for rumour and groundless speculation. In perspective, what Darren Murphy did openly vastly overshadows what rumourmongers have attempted to do in secret.

Perhaps the media in Ulster could do the Murphy family and everyone else a favour by reporting the facts and shying away from tabloid journalism that has neither credibility nor credence in the eyes of everyone,
Yours etc,
(name and address supplied).