'Die you Fenian bastard' they shouted at Robert

Nobody has ever been convicted of the killing. Murder charges against six men were withdrawn through lack of evidence. One man was convicted of causing an affray. Charges against a police officer for obstructing justice were withdrawn in controversial circumstances.

"Eight years, we've been struggling for this inquiry. Now we've got it, I'm so nervous,"

says Diane. She doesn't like returning to Portadown since she moved out, and who could blame her?

"Die you Fenian bastard!"

the loyalist gang yelled at Robert, 25, as they punched and kicked him, and stomped on his head, in full view of an RUC Land Rover in Market Street, the town's main thoroughfare. But it wasn't that which made Diane leave. It was the endless abuse and provocation from loyalists and police which followed. A name, that should have been a reason for shame, became a taunt.

"Hamill! Hamill! Hamill!" loyalists jeered at the family or other Catholics in town. They'd shout 'Robbie Hamill, ha, ha, ha!" and jump up and down in a macabre 'dance', as though stamping on his head like the killers had. After the murder, Diane had broken down in tears on TV. They'd mimic her crying. "They'd shout at me 'Where's Robert now? Where are your flowers?' "We'd bought a pup for my wee brother John and I took him into town to get a dog bowl. A crowd called me a Fenian slut. I tightened up my back because I feared they'd hurl something."

Diane's outspokenness against the police and killers meant Protestant women she'd worked with stopped speaking to her. She claims an RUC car deliberately swerved at her on the road, and the police behaved "aggressively and provocatively" to her family.

"I was always worried my brothers would respond and it would ruin us. Thankfully, they rose above it."

Robert Hamill, a labourer, was walking home from a dance at St Patrick's Hall around 1.45 a.m. on April 27 1997. He was with his cousins, Joanne and Siobhan Girvan, and Joanne's husband Gregory. They had to cross Market Street to reach the Catholic Obins Street. They spotted a crowd of loyalists at the corner and were worried.

Then, they saw the police Land Rover and reckoned they'd be okay. The two men walked first. A 30-strong mob got stuck into them. Robert was hit over the head with a bottle and lost consciousness immediately. Gregory was knocked out too. The women started screaming, begging the three policemen and woman to do something.

"The best armed and trained police force in the world sat 20 yards away and did nothing,"

claims Diane.

"Even if they had fired a shot in the air, it would have scattered the crowd and saved Robert. As the boys lay on the ground, the police didn't attempt first aid. They didn't even get out off their vehicle until the ambulance arrived.

"They failed to make it a crime scene so vital forensic evidence wasn't gathered. Nobody was even arrested until after Robert died."

He was in a coma 12 days. They played him Christy Moore and Tracy Chapman and tapes of his two sons - Ryan and Shane - telling him how much they loved him. It did no good. His partner, Caroline, gave birth three months later to their daughter Nicole.

"I'd never asked God for anything but I asked him to save Robert, and he didn't,"

says Diane.

The police later claimed they were outnumbered by loyalists and could do nothing that night.

"They could have sent for reinforcements. The RUC station was only 250 yards away,"

claims Diane.

One of the officers has since left the force. The Hamills' don't know about the other three.

"We hope to get answers to the unanswered questions surrounding Robert's death,"

says the family's solicitor Barra McGrory.

Diane hopes, even now, for new witnesses:

"Some of the loyalist crowd, or police officers who know about the cover-up, could still come forward. Surely there is somebody out there with an ounce of conscience?"