Pastor Stephen Thompson spoke at the European Remembrance Day for Victims of Terrorism event at Stormont this week.

His aunt Yvonne Dunlop died in an IRA firebomb attack at her father's boutique in Ballymena in 1976. The explosion injured her nine-year-old son.

Thompson said her parents raised her three boys while coping with grief. He added that her father died from a broken heart.

One year after the attack, Thompson's parents moved the family to Nottingham to get away from the Troubles. His father had trouble finding steady work there. His sister got involved with drugs after dating a drug dealer on their estate.

Thompson came to faith in his early thirties. He decided to forgive the killers to stop anger from controlling him.

One of Yvonne Dunlop's sons who was in the blast later died from drugs. Another son remains involved with drugs.

Thompson served as a Methodist minister in north Belfast. At a community meeting, one of the killers handed him a cup of tea.

Thompson now works as a trained therapeutic counsellor. He holds that those responsible for violence will face judgment.