A substantial reward is to be offered to anyone with new information about the IRA murder of south Armagh man Paul Quinn.

Mr Quinn's parents Stephen and Breege said an anonymous donor was behind the development which comes as the 10th anniversary of his brutal killing approaches.

A dozen men wearing black military-style clothing were involved in the savage assault on the 21-year-old, who was lured to a barn along the border on October 20, 2007.

Paul was beaten with iron bars and nail-studded cudgels, and died in hospital shortly afterward the attack in Oram, Co Monaghan. Although 20 arrests have been made, no one has been convicted of the killing.

However, his parents are still hopeful of securing justice.

"Those who murdered my son may think they've got away with it but they shouldn't sleep easily in their beds. I'm confident that their past will catch up with them," Stephen Quinn said. He revealed that cold case detectives will be taking on the case soon.

"The Garda Serious Crime Review Team are very good," he said. "They review all unsolved killings in the Republic. They have their own detectives and forensic scientists and they reassess all evidence. They have an excellent track record in getting results. They receive training from police forces across the world, including the FBI."

Breege Quinn said the family was "hugely disappointed" that Paul's murder seemed to have been forgotten by most politicians in Northern Ireland and that it is never raised with Sinn Fein. After the killing, Sinn Fein's Conor Murphy said he had spoken to the IRA and was satisfied they weren't involved. He branded Paul "a criminal" and linked his murder to a feud among criminals.

The Dublin government and the SDLP both asserted that Paul wasn't a criminal. Breege said: "As the 10th anniversary of Paul's murder approaches, we once again appeal to Conor Murphy, as a politician and a father, to withdraw his disgraceful slur against our son."

Breege maintained that Gerry Adams and other Sinn Fein leaders could "come to south Armagh and secure justice for us within an hour because it is prominent IRA men who killed Paul".

Stephen said that while Sinn Fein puts its political opponents under pressure on certain issues "nobody seems to be telling Sinn Fein to do the right thing and come clean about Paul's murder".

Breege added: "Paul's assailants carried out the attack with military-like precision. They used bleach to clean up afterwards. These men weren't from Mars - they were local IRA members."

Paul Quinn was targeted after clashing with several local Provisionals over minor matters in the months before his death. He was lured to the Monaghan barn by a phone call asking him to help shift cattle.

"From his toes to his groin, the IRA battered him with iron bars. They used nail-studded cudgels on his upper body," Breege says.

"I remember him lying in the hospital bed with a ventilator tube protruding from his mouth, his eyes half open. His head was swollen and there were gashes on his face. His right ear was torn off. Every major bone below his neck was broken.

"Seeing the child that you gave birth to in that pitiful state would destroy any mother but you try to go on."

The garda investigation has revealed a high degree of planning on the day of the murder. Phone records showed the mobiles of around eight key suspects were turned off at the same time that afternoon and were then almost simultaneously turned on after 6pm, following the attack.

Belfast Telegraph