Northern Ireland: Loyalist paramilitaries drive playwright from his home

· Death threats and attacks force family to quit estate
· BBC film and international awards provoke thugs
The Guardian

One of the most talked about voices in European theatre is in hiding - and his extended family have been forced to flee their homes - after a campaign of death threats and bomb attacks by loyalist paramilitaries.

Gary Mitchell, whose political thrillers have arguably made him Northern Ireland's greatest playwright, was told that every "Mitchell had to get out or be killed in four hours". His home was attacked by men with baseball bats and petrol bombs.

Brought up on the sprawling Rathcoole estate in north Belfast which is dominated by the UDA, Mitchell is the authentic voice of working class loyalism, whose plays, including As the Beast Sleeps and the Force of Change, have shocked audiences in London and New York with the ugly truth about how paramilitary thugs still control their communities long after "peace".

Remarkably, while critics raved at the way he dramatised feuds and power-struggles within loyalists gangs, and the collusion between gunmen and the police, he managed to continue living on the same streets where they held sway.

Despite police warnings that he was on the top of a death list - and should not drink in local pubs - Mitchell insisted on staying put, saying he needed to be close to the people he was writing about.

To begin with, the paramilitaries' prejudice that culture was something only for "taigs [Catholics] and faggots" protected him. But after his acclaimed As The Beast Sleeps was filmed by the BBC, and he began to win international prizes, it began to get serious. One UDA leader told the makers they could only film on the estate if they didn't use cameras.

Last month, Mitchell's home was attacked by paramilitaries carrying baseball bats, their faces hidden by football scarves. His car was petrol bombed and exploded in his driveway. His wife, Alison, grabbed their seven-year-old son from his bed, ran outside with him, put him over a wall and threw herself on top of him to protect him. She said: "I heard an explosion and I thought they've killed Gary."

There was a simultaneous attack on his uncle's home. By then his uncle was the only family member left in Rathcoole. From a secret location, Mitchell told the Guardian: "We are in hiding now. I feel a mix of confusion, anger, frustration and despair. There is a feeling that certain people are jealous and feel that I am depicting them in a bad way. They have decided that they will do this no matter what anybody says ... I haven't done anything other than write.

"Some say the way to deal with this is to sit down with paramilitaries and ask them why they are doing this. I have no interest in doing that because I don't want to give people authority over my writing. If I negotiated with them, I would be recognising their authority, which I don't."

Mitchell's pensioner parents were the first to feel the intimidation when they were told: "All the Mitchells have four hours to leave Rathcoole or they will be killed." Sandra and Chuck Mitchell had lived in their home for 50 years, but had to leave. His father is now in hospital.

Mitchell's grandmother, Sadie, was allowed to stay alone in a small flat. She died five months later.

The Mitchells were told they could not return to Rathcoole for the funeral. "We had to have a police escort. My granny always wanted to be buried from her house. That had to be changed because police said it wasn't safe. When they were taking the coffin out, a man shouted: 'One Mitchell dead!' These are the sorts of things you don't forget."

Tommy Kirkham of the Ulster Political Research Group, which advises the UDA, said he had been assured the UDA was not behind the attacks. Mitchell has been told rogue elements may have targeted him.

The Belfast novelist Glenn Patterson has organised an open letter in support of Mitchell with 30 other writers.