Ms Cathy McIlvenny:

Some victims' groups do great work. Being in a victims' group suits many people. Other groups lean more to the unionist or Catholic side of the community and so people stay away from those; everybody in Belfast knows which groups. Many victims just do not want to get involved in groups.

I and many people I know just want justice but there is nobody there who will really go for that justice for us. There is nobody there to stand beside us and say, "Right, she needs this court case opened or investigated". I know in the case of my sister's murder, we had to pay privately to have a pathologist look again at it and prove a case of rape. No family should ever have to do that or sit and read inquest papers but there is no group out there to help with that. They did not get to one-on-one but many families want one-on-one.

We found no groups at all that we could go to and ask for solicitors that could look at the case for us. They do not do it unless it is within a remit, and many of the victims' groups must tick boxes. I agree with that for funding purposes and such checks. With victims' cases, a box may not always be there to be ticked. Some of it is different.