Veteran republican Brendan ‘Bik’ McFarlane has died, it was announced on Friday.
The IRA bomber passed away earlier today. McFarlane was given five life sentences for the 1975 Bayardo Bar bomb attack in which four Protestant civilians and a UVF member died.
McFarlane escaped from the Maze in 1983 but was later recaptured. Days after his release in 1998, he was arrested and subsequently charged in connection with kidnapping supermarket executive Don Tidey while on the run. He was acquitted in 2008.
In a statement issued earlier today by Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly he described McFarlane as a “lifelong Republican activist”.
He said: “I have just learned of the sad passing of my friend and comrade Brendan ‘Bik’ McFarlane, a lifelong Republican activist who has died after a short illness earlier today.
“My first thoughts are with his loving wife Lene and their children, Thomas, Emma and Tina. Bik was a Republican activist all his life right to the end and gave all that he had to the struggle for a united Ireland.
“He was a huge figure within Republicanism and particularly at the time of the hunger strike in 1981 when 10 of our comrades lost their lives in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh.
“Bik was a talented singer, songwriter and musician, and previously sang at many events and occasions including at previous Ard Fheis. He will be sadly missed by the many, many people who knew, respected and loved him.”
English (United States) ·