![\"Valerie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/3986913b-bfbd-49f2-8654-9271b975754b.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSeamus Armstrong was speaking as police launched a new video as part of a safety campaign around scramblers.<\/p>\n
It is part of Operation Chicquer, a campaign set up after the death of Valerie Armstrong.<\/p>\n
In the clip, Mr Armstrong provides a moving personal testimony, highlighting the devastating consequences of illegal vehicle use in residential areas.<\/p>\n
He describes the moment his neighbour screamed his name over their fence, telling him to go to the forest, where he then saw four paramedics working on his wife.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Valerie with husband Seamus and children Dylan (10), Lucy (7) and five-year-old Sophie-Belle Valerie with husband Seamus and children Dylan (10), Lucy (7) and five-year-old Sophie-Belle (Collect Kevin Scott for Presseye)<\/p>\n
He then explains being brought into a separate room in hospital, where he was told that his wife would not make it.<\/p>\n
He said: “Surgeons came and sat me down and said, \u2018Mr Armstrong, your wife’s injuries are terminal. There’s nothing that we can do that will save her. <\/p>\n
“We’ve three different surgeons [who] all says, \u2018we’ve all seen injuries of this magnitude before in previous cases, and nobody comes back from it\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
A short time after that, Mrs Armstrong was pronounced deceased.<\/p>\n
“I had to go home then the next day and tell our kids that Mummy wasn’t coming back from the hospital,\u201d Mr Armstrong continued. <\/p>\n
“I didn’t bring them down to see her when she was in ICU, because I didn’t want that to be their last memory of their mum, hooked up the wires and pipes coming out of her mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n
The video, now live on social media, was officially launched at a community event at Cloona House on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
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The event was attended by community leaders, residents, and stakeholders who have supported the operation over the past two years.<\/p>\n
Police said that Operation CHICQUER has a 29.8% reduction in scrambler-related incidents across the city between 2023 and 2025.<\/p>\n
Around 70% of offenders are aged between 12 and 18. Last summer, a nine-week programme with the Cornerstone Off-Road Motorcycle Academy educated 18 at-risk youths on road safety and responsible vehicle use.<\/p>\n
Police said that local schools, youth centres, businesses, and community groups \u2013 including Colin Neighbourhood Partnership \u2013 played a vital role in spreading the message and supporting engagement efforts.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the launch event, Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Tracy Kelly, praised the initiative.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a shining example of how effective partnership working can lead to real improvements in community safety,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe video is a stark reminder of the pain caused by illegal street scrambling, and it highlights the urgent need for continued collaboration with young people.<\/p>\n
“Providing safe spaces and meaningful activities is key to preventing anti-social behaviour and protecting lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Seamus](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/5a7a7aac-c04a-42ba-845d-ef9d6ecb8871.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Seamus Armstrong, his wife Valerie died after being struck by a scrambler in July 2016<\/p>\n
News Catch Up – Wednesday 27th August <\/p>\n
Annie Armstrong, from the Colin Neighbourhood Partnership, said the group has, for many years, been highlighting the dangers of scramblers and other motorised vehicles in the hands of those who are not trained, insured and not wearing the necessary protective equipment.<\/p>\n
“We are genuinely concerned that more members of our community could become victims of this illegal activity.<\/p>\n
“We again appeal to parents and those that are involved to consider the undeniable consequences if an innocent person in our community dies or is seriously injured because of this dangerous activity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seamus Armstrong was speaking as police launched a new video as part of a safety campaign around scramblers.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1334,59,57,58,50,11484,2497,56,54,55,27741],"class_list":["post-97912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-belfast","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-niamh-campbell","tag-police-service-of-northern-ireland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-west-belfast-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}