Biography

Thomas John Devlin (known as Dev to his friends) was born on 17 September 1989 in the Royal Victoria Hospital Belfast.  He was always a happy baby and was much loved by his Mum, his Dad his sister Megan and his brother James.

Thomas went to preschool playgroup, nursery school, Cavehill Primary School and was attending Belfast Royal Academy, a local grammar school when he was killed.

Thomas was savagely attacked on 10 August 2005 just 200 yards from his home. He was with a couple of his pals walking home having been to a local garage to buy sweets and pop because the boys were going on to the internet to play computer games.  One of his pals was staying the night in our house with Thomas.

Thomas was a generous, kind hearted young man. He liked music especially power metal and heavy metal. He was studying music for his GCSE examinations and also played the tenor horn (he didn’t much like practising it though!).  H was good at practical things and he had built a tree house up at his Granny and Grandpa’s farm in Armoy Glen.

Thomas was always late for school because he didn’t like getting up in the morning but told his form teacher that it was because he was woken up too early in the morning by his mother – at 7.45 am when he had to be in school for 8.40am!!!
He was a good pupil and had a bright future ahead of him. He wanted to either study law or computing when he left school.

Thomas was a very popular boy and we were amazed at the number of his friends who called at the house around the time of Thomas’s funeral.  When you read the tributes left at the site of his murder you can see just how he touched the lives of so many young people.

Thomas was a very good swimmer and had been a member of Donegall Swimming Club for many years.  This was where he learnt to swim.  He was also a member of the Boy’s Brigade and during his last year there he would go with his uniform on underneath his Goth clothes and just took his Goth clothes off before he went in.  Thomas went to the Youth Club every Friday night with his pals. This youth club was run by the members of Rosemary Presbyterian Church who also ran the Boy’s Brigade troop that Thomas belonged to.

Thomas liked going to the cinema with his pals and usually on Saturday afternoons he would head into the city centre to meet up with all of his pals.  Belfast City Centre is regarded as a neutral environment for the young people of this city and many Goths, Skaters and Punks all congregate there and pal around.  This is where Thomas met many of his friends from across the city and from all backgrounds.

Thomas was brought up a Catholic in a mixed marriage, was sent to state schools but schools that had a good mix of background amongst the pupils.  He loved animals and had many pets including rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice and lately a Great Dane dog called Rosie.