A BOSNIAN refugee brought to Barnsley more than 30 years ago by a Dodworth couple who risked their own lives to smuggle him out of his war-torn homeland says he has never forgotten the love of Barnsley people.

Riad ‘Riki’ Terzic hid in a mattress in the back of a van, driven by Jackie and Paul Ryalls who came under heavy machine gun fire as they fled the former Yugoslavia following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989.

Yugoslavia was left divided by the rise of ethnic and regional nationalism and the resulting Balkan War shattered the peaceful co-existence of different religious and ethnic groups as Serbian nationalists, led by Radovan Karadzic, embarked on a war with Bosnia with the intention of ethnically cleansing it of all Muslims.

A three-year ‘campaign of terror’ began by the Serbian forces - killing, raping and looting the Muslim population which culminated in the mass murder of more than 8,000 men and boys at Srebrenica on July 11, 1995.

On the 30th anniversary of that atrocity, Riki and Jackie have spoken to the Chronicle about the mercy mission that brought him to Barnsley.

Dodworth couple Paul and Jackie, who now live in Morpeth, were hailed as heroes at the time - conducting a number of missions to Bosnia - against official advice.

On one of those missions, they saved the then 17-year-old Riki who had seen the consequences of the regime first-hand.

He was born in Bihac, the administrative centre of the Una-Sana Canton of the Federation of Bosnia.

He said that growing up life was peaceful and admits he was ‘ignorant’ over the political situation in his home country - but that changed more or less overnight and his family were made to leave by the Serbians.

The family settled in Zenica and that’s where he met Paul and Jackie.

Jackie, who is now 85, says the people of Barnsley really did save Riad and so many others - and she remembers having to bring the teenager across Europe while hiding him in a mattress.

She told the Chronicle: “The people in Barnsley helped us to save so many lives.

“We still get letters of thanks from those who we helped now.

“Riki was very brave. We came under heavy machine gun fire and Paul just kept driving as the bullets kept coming.

“Can you imagine what it was like for a young boy on his own inside a mattress? He must have been terrified.

“It was by the grace of God we all survived. Bullets came across Paul’s chest so close that he had blood on his shirt and hat.

“If Paul had not kept driving, none of us would still be here.”

Riki told the Chronicle: “It was an awful situation.

“Jackie and Paul had come down a few times before they mentioned what they wanted to do.

“At the time we were all so hungry - you wouldn’t see any leaves on trees as we would have to eat them.

“We were eating the bark on the trees because we had nothing else.

“Jackie asked if they could do anything for me and that’s when they mentioned coming over to Barnsley.

“They grabbed a mattress and took out the middle and I was placed inside it - you would never have known it wasn’t a mattress.

“We set off behind a UN convoy but we were in a Luton van and they were in 4x4s and so we lost them.

“I heard the gun fire going off and I could literally smell the gun powder. I could see holes from the bullets hitting and I thought that was it. I started saying my prayers.

“We eventually got to the UN convoy and the back of the van was like a shower head - there were holes everywhere.

“Paul’s window was completely smashed.”

Thankfully the couple succeeded and Riki went on to live in Barnsley and study at the college, before going to Sheffield Hallam University and going on to work in local government.

“I remember getting to Dodworth and all the neighbours coming out and asking what had happened once they’d seen the van,” he said.

“I lived in Barnsley and studied at the college before going to university and at that time my parents and brother had settled in Bradford.

“I can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done. People still ask about them now when I go back.”

Thirty years on from the massacre at Srebrenica, Riki has urged people to do whatever they can to stand against hate and division.

He added: “People say ‘never again’ - but there’s still things happening. We need to be kind. There’s still terror in Gaza and in Ukraine.”