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23 January 1997 Edition

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Larne family in narrow escape

By Mick Naughton

A Larne family, including a five month old baby, narrowly escaped death when a loyalist explosive device exploded under their van.

John Shaw, his 25 year old girlfriend Adele Burly and daughter Shauna Rose were unhurt when a loyalist hand grenade exploded as they drove through the Antrim coastal town at Hampden Crescent around 10.30am on 20 January.

John Shaw became the third member of his family targeted in recent years by loyalist death squads. In 1993, his uncle Bertie Shaw was shot dead by the UDA as he slept in his van. The murdered man's son has survived four attempts on his life which included gun, bomb and knife attacks at his home and other locations in east Antrim.

Shaw said that he usually takes his young son to school in the mornings and said that his would-be killers would have known that as they placed it under the passenger seat while it was parked in Britannia Crescent in the Seacourt area of Larne.
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