Skip to content

Would you like to stay up to date with our work?

You can request to join our mailing list and receive email updates.
Find out more

Deaths of Ellen and James Sefton

The Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery is issuing an appeal for information as part of the investigation into the deaths of Ellen and James Sefton in June 1990.

James was a retired police officer aged 65. Ellen was 66 and was also retired. James and Ellen were parents to a son and a daughter.

On the morning of Wednesday 6 June 1990, James and Ellen left their home on Lyndhurst Gardens in their silver Proton car, registration GDZ 3496, and travelled towards Belfast city centre.

At approximately 10am, as they passed the old Forth River Primary School on Ballygomartin Road, a booby trap device detonated beneath their car.

James, who was driving, sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced dead shortly after being taken to the Mater Hospital.

Ellen was critically injured and was transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital where she died the following day.

The explosion occurred in a busy area and was witnessed by several pedestrians and motorists, two of whom sustained minor injuries.

This case remains unsolved. Even the smallest detail may be the piece of information that assists the investigation.