James Kelly
The nephew of UVF murder victim Bobby Moffett has tragically drowned on holiday.
James Kelly lost his life after enjoying a boat ride with his girlfriend Courtney Holmes in Bulgaria last Wednesday afternoon, just moments after this happy holiday snap was taken.
It is believed James, who was epileptic, suffered a seizure while walking to shore after an hour long pedalo ride with the mother of three-year-old baby daughter Kierson.
His childhood sweetheart looked on in horror as his lifeless body was drifted away from her.
Yesterday afternoon his devastated mother Lily Kelly, sister of Bobby Moffett, formally identified the remains of her only son in a Bulgarian morgue.
Too traumatised to speak directly to the Sunday World she gave permission for a family member to speak on her behalf.
“Lily, Jim and the entire family are devastated. God only knows how she will cope with the death of James, she adored him and he idolised her. They were so close, his death will kill her, she is at a complete loss about what to do,” she said.
“Lily only identified James’ body an hour and a half ago and she is heartbroken, she is not even all there at the minute, she is completely broken and we fear she can’t take much more.”
James’ partner Courtney Holmes was faced with the horrendous task of informing their loved ones that James had died in what can only be described as a freak accident.
In a phone call to home she explained how they had just finished their boat ride in the Sunny Beach resort and were walking to shore when James appeared to suffer some sort of seizure and slipped beneath the surface.
The loved up pair had been only three days into their week long romantic holiday on the Black Sea when tragedy struck.
Their daughter had not accompanied them on the sunshine break, staying at home to be to be looked after by her grandparents.
“Courtney said James had stepped into the water to walk to shore and then suddenly she couldn’t see him. The next thing she saw was his head bobbing in the water, then there was nothing and he was gone.
“Courtney ran for help but from what we can make out at the minute it took rescuers almost an hour and a half to find his body. They managed to get him on board a boat but by that stage he was gone, he was dead,” the family spokesperson revealed.
Cause of death has been recorded after an autopsy in Bulgaria as asphyxiation by drowning however the family believe a further, more in-depth autopsy, may prove he suffered from an epileptic fit.
“There is nothing sinister about James death and we want to make that clear, we have already received the report from the coroner and the verdict is that he drowned, there was no injuries to his body and there was nothing untoward despite what people might think and have been saying, we just want to be left to grieve as a family and to bury James with the love and respect he deserves,” she said.
It is a tragedy the family will struggle to overcome, they are still coming to terms with the savage murder of James’ uncle Bobby on the Shankill Road five years ago, shot in the face in broad daylight by a UVF hitman in May 2009.
Moffett was targeted because he dared to faced down the paramilitary bully boys, his nephew too became a target suffering a campaign of intimidation and violence. In January 2012, he was beaten to a pulp by a five man UVF gang armed with hammers and click out batons.
He was targeted because he challenged the men behind his 43-year-old uncle’s death.
He received 30 staples to his head, stitches to his eye and lost part of his hearing.
Speaking exclusively to the Sunday World at the time of the barbaric attack, left, James challenged the UVF to shoot him dead in order to shut him up.
“They will have to put a bullet in my head, just like they did to my Uncle Bobby, to get rid of me. Look what they did to me last weekend but I am still standing. It will take more than that to make me disappear, they are pathetic cowards,” he said.
He was was attacked on two occasions that Saturday evening by UVF goons including Jonathan ‘Jarvis’ Allen, Glenn Darragh and Johnny Graham, members then of Joe’s McGaw's No 5 punishment team.
The second attack was witnessed by UVF chief McGaw.
At the time James claimed he had been attacked because, like his uncle, he would not kowtow to the drug dealing terrorists.
“I have been targeted because of who my uncle is and because I won’t take it from them. I am not afraid of them, just like my uncle wasn’t, and that kills them. I have been told that I will be shot dead if I am seen on the Shankill but that’s not going to happen. They are not going to tell me how to run my life. Who are they anyway? They are cowards, everything the do is behind a mask,” he said.
After the almost fatal attack James was forced to leave the Shankill area under death threat.
He left believing he would spare his mother and father anymore suffering.
Little did he know his life would be claimed in the most tragic of accidents and not at the hands of the men who vowed to end his young life.
“James left the area because he thought it was the best thing to do, not because he was afraid of anyone. He moved away and he started his life all over again, he put all the stuff with the UVF and the beatings behind him and he was happy.
“He was a family man who worshiped Courtney and the ground his wee daughter walked on, how we will explain to her that her daddy is gone nobody knows. He had so much to look forward to and now he is gone, it’s just not fair,” she wept.
His mother also suffered a series of intimidatory attacks with her home regularly targeted with paint bombs and windows broken.
Last August James defied the UVF to return to the Shankill to attend the funeral of his grandmother Susan Moffett – now the Kellys and Moffets are preparing for another funeral.
“We lost Bobby and then our mother died last year, we haven’t even stopped grieving for her and now James. How much more is one person and one family supposed to take? My Lily and her husband Jim will never be able to get over this, this is just one too many, this one is just too hard for any of us to digest, it is awful, just awful,” the Kelly family spokesperson added.
Members of the UVF have taken to Facebook to gloat about the young man’s death. The family fear it is only a matter of time before taunting graffiti appears on gable walls, penned by deluded supporters of the gang who killed the 27-year-old’s uncle five years ago.
James remains are not expected to return home for another week, his family are being aided by the British Embassy.