PSNI Arrest Suspect In McCartney Murder Probe
Police in Northern Ireland have arrested a man in connection with the murder of father of two Robert McCartney in 2005.
PSNI detectives arrested the 51-year-old in Jonesborough in Armagh this morning and searched a property in the area.
A police spokesman said: “Detectives from PSNI Serious Crime Branch have arrested a 51-year-old man in Jonesborough this morning in connection to inquiries linked to the murder of Robert McCartney in Belfast in January 2005.
“He has been taken to Antrim Serious Crime Suite for questioning.”
Robert McCartney was beaten and stabbed to death in Belfast in January 2005 after an altercation in a pub in the city.
The murder outside Magennis’ bar in central Belfast provoked a crisis in the peace process after it emerged that local members of an IRA unit were involved in the killing and the forensic cover-up of the pub afterwards.
After his death his family went public with their fears that republican paramilitaries were intimidating witnesses and pressuring them not to give evidence about the murder amid claims that the IRA had been involved in his killing.
Mr McCartney’s sisters led a high-profile campaign which took them to Dublin, the European parliament and Washington, where they met then President George W Bush.
The IRA denied any involvement in the killing of the 33 year old Short Strand native but expelled three of its members shortly afterwards. Sinn Fèin subsequently suspended seven members following an investigation.
McCartney’s sisters campaigned for witnesses to speak out as they searched for the real reason as to why their beloved brother was taken from them. The case put great pressure on Sinn Féin at the time as allegations surfaced that the party were involved in obstructing efforts to bring the killers to justice.
In 2008, Terence Davison, 51, was acquitted of Mr McCartney’s murder and two other men were cleared of charges connected to the killing.
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