For my oral in English Language GCSE, in 1999, we had to prepare a presentation about something that mattered to us. I decided to teach my class about Robert Hamill. It was a story that broke my heart then and has stuck with me every since. Sorting through some old things today I found what I had written, folded safely in a poly pocket with a news clipping from the time with a picture of Robert with his two young sons.

This story was important enough for me to keep for over fifteen years and reading it back again now it is striking how the details might have changed but the story has been constantly repeated. This is what mattered to 15 year old me.

"It was 27th April 1997 and it started as an ordinary Saturday evening in Portadown. Groups of young people heading for the pubs and clubs in the centre of town - everyone seemed happy.

Robert Hamill was a 25 year old family man who lived with his partner Caroline Maguire and their two children Ryan and Shane. Caroline had their third child in July 1997.

They had had a fine time; drinking and dancing until 1:30am. At closing time Robert set off for home with his cousins Siobhan and Joanne, and Gregory, Joanne's husband.

Normally they would've waited for a taxi to take them past the group of loyalist drinkers at the crossroads they were approaching but they saw an RUC landrover parked close to the group so felt reassured.

Robert and his friends approached cautiously - behind them was the Catholic social club and in front of them was Woodhouse Street, a Catholic road. Only a Catholic would be walking from the club to Woodhouse Street. As they passed, the crowd closed in.

Robert went down first; he was hit on the head with a bottle and was unconscious as the mob of about 30 men and women kicked and punched Robert and Gregory. Gregory would regain consciousness in the ambulance. Robert wouldn't.

The beating happened 15 yards from the RUC landrover, in which were 4 officers each armed with pistols and machine guns, who sat and watched. They did not call for reinforcements; they did not fire in the air; they did not even get out. People were banging on the side of the landrover and screaming at them to help.

The ambulance arrived 20 minutes later and then, and only then, the doors of the landrover opened. No arrests were made and no crime scene was declared.

After lying in a coma for 12 days, Robert died.

The talk amongst those close to the RUC was that they simply didn't fancy the task; there were 4 of them, each with 2 guns, and 30 of the mob. The officers feared for their safety.

Family solicitor, Rosemary Nelson, questioned the RUCs motives for failing to intervene, "Why didn't they fire in the air?" Police have fired in the air on other occasions, for example to save a policeman under attack by youths during an Apprenticeboy's parade last year.

After Robert's death, 6 men were arrested and by their own request were placed in the LVF wing of the Maze. The LVF acclaimed them as the Portadown Six and produced leaflets to support them.

By November 1997, charges against 5 of them had been dropped. The DPP said there was "insufficient evidence for prosecution". But an eyewitness approached the DPP to complain that he could identify one of Robert's attackers, who he had seen sitting in the RUC landrover after the attack laughing with the police, but the RUC had arranged no ID parade.

Robert's murder quickly became a standing joke amongst the loyalists. "Where's Robbie Hamill?" is a favourite taunt to which the Catholic community is subjected. They also do a little dance which involves a mime of kicking and stamping. This was the main content of a Orangemen parade last year described by the police and newspapers as "peaceful and orderly". The family have also been harassed by the RUC.

The first press release stated that "Police moved in to separate two groups who encountered each other. Bottles were thrown and police came under attack."

A second press release said the police were "unable to control situation and were the subject of attack"

A fourth statement recounted the incident as "two couples being set upon by a large crowd"

How could officers sitting 15 yards away, seeing "two couples being set upon by a large crowd" still take 10 days to find the right words to distinguish it from an encounter of two gangs where bottles were thrown? They now refuse to comment on the case.

One man, Paul Hobson, is being put on trial but even though it is an investigation of a mob attack on two men, witnessed by 4 RUC officers, the family still do not expect a conviction.

In Northern Ireland this case has had the same sort of impact for many as the Stephen Lawrence case has here. It has also attracted the attention of Michael Mansfield QC, but by the time he visits, the murder trial will be over and a decision on whether to discipline or absolve the RUC officers who permitted this attack will have been made.

There is a powerful campaign emerging around Robert's death and several reports have been compiled for the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions. There are plans to pursue a private prosecution once the murder trial is concluded.

The LVF in Portadown, the mob that broke away from the UVF under the leadership of Billy Wright, since murdered in jail, assumes that the 6 men originally accused were guilty but regards their conduct as honourable.

A leaflet published by the LVF addresses the men and says: "You have been criminalised for defending yourselves against an unprovoked invasion of your territory...You have our full support and best wishes and we hope to see you home soon."

At the end, in a different colour ink, is the bit I had to add when Rosemary Nelson was also executed.

"Rosemary Nelson, the family's solicitor has also since been murdered by a bomb planted under her car outside her home and close to where here 4 year old daughter was playing in the school playground.

Rosemary's life had been under threat several times in the past from members of the LVF and it is thought that the men who killed Robert Hamill were also responsible for Rosemary's tragic death. The murder trial has been postponed."

At the end of March 1999 Paul Hobson was cleared of murder but was convicted of unlawful fighting and causing an affray and sentenced to four years imprisonment. The case under which Hobson was prosecuted is questionable as the main witness, Constable Atkinson of the then RUC, was at one stage a suspect in conspiracy to cause murder in the same case. His solicitor also did not use crucial evidence in the case to cross-examine witnesses.

In 2004, the Cory Collusion Inquiry recommended that the UK Government hold an inquiry into the circumstances of Rosemary Nelson's death and in 2011 the inquiry found no evidence that state agencies (the RUC, British Army and MI5) had "directly facilitated" her murder, but "could not exclude the possibility" that individual members had helped the perpetrators. It found that state agencies had failed to protect her and that some RUC intelligence about her had 'leaked'. Both of these, it said, increased the danger to her life. The report also stated that RUC officers had publicly abused and assaulted her in 1997, and made threatening remarks about her to her clients, which became publicly known. It concluded that this helped "legitimise her as a target in the eyes of loyalist terrorists".