The mother of a Derry man who left the city with his family because of an IRA death threat today urged Mr Martin McGuinness to assure his family can safely return.
As the new school term began, Mr Joseph McCloskey's mother Bridie brought five of her grandchildren to the Sinn Féin Education Minister's offices in Bangor, Co Down.
She said: "I want Martin McGuinness to guarantee my family's safety and all of Derry knows he can do it. My grandchildren should be at school here because they are having terrible problems".
Mr McCloskey fled his home in the city's Shantallow estate in April last year after it was claimed he was going to be shot. The father of six had been involved in a fight while working as a doorman in a Derry pub days earlier.
Following a gun battle at the family home, Mrs McCloskey claimed her son received an ominous warning. "A man came to the house and asked him to go and meet the top man," she said. "But we were also told by someone who knew that if Joseph had wings he should get out fast".
Mr McCloskey took his wife and children - one of whom suffers from Down's Syndrome - across the border into the Republic. They then set up a home in the north of England.
Despite meeting Sinn Fein chairman Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, Mrs McCloskey refused to accept her son is safe to come home. She brought a letter with her which she hoped to hand to Mr McGuinness at Rathgael House.
A Department of Education spokeswoman said Mr McGuinness, who has just returned from holidays today, was not expected at the office.
Sinn Féin insisted there was nothing more the party could do to help the McCloskey family. "Mitchel McLaughlin met with her in person and carried out an investigation she had asked for," a spokesman said.
PA