A former soldier from Accrington who lost his brother in a bomb attack in Northern Ireland is preparing to mark the 25th anniversary of his death.

Darren Ware’s older brother Simon was killed in an IRA bomb attack in South Armagh on August 17, 1991 while he was on a rural foot patrol.

A quarter of a century on, the culprits have never been brought to justice.

Darren, 45, said: “Simon was serving with the Coldstream Guards and I was a Royal Green Jacket. I was out dealing with a bomb attack on an off duty police officer’s home in County Tyrone just a few miles away when I got a call over the radio from my commander to say I was needed. I got back and he informed me that my brother had been killed.

“It was a horrendous shock, we were very close growing up, he joined the Army a year after I did.

“You know when you are deployed to places that there’s a risk but you just hope it doesn’t happen to you.”

He added: “There’s still a certain amount of anger and frustration that the person or people who murdered Simon were never caught and will probably never be brought to justice, but it’s something I’ve had to learn to accept.”

Simon died after the IRA detonated a 300lb landmine as a British Army patrol passed near Carrickrovaddy, Cullyhanna.

He was 22 years old, had been married for five months and had only spent two days with his wife Carol before being deployed on operation.

After losing his brother, Darren also lost his mother, grandmother and stepfather within a few years.

Darren, who spent 10 years with the Royal Green Jackets before moving to Accrington in 1997, now serves on Lancashire Police’s armed response unit. He is hoping to be able to return to the place where his brother was killed to mark the anniversary of his death.

Darren has previously written a book about the ordeal entitled ‘A Rendezvous with the Enemy: My Brother’s Life and Death with the Coldstream Guards in Northern Ireland’ which he said helped him in the grieving process. He added: “I don’t think you ever get over something like that, but every year it just gets a bit easier. Writing the book was a form of therapy for me, as it helped me to process everything, I was able to access a lot of information about what happened to him.” Darren’s book is still available on Amazon.