SAOIRSE32

IrishExaminer.com

Driver speaks of tragic bus accident

06 June 2005
By John Breslin

THE driver of a bus that crashed in Navan, killing five schoolgirls, has told investigators the rear of the vehicle skidded as he braked approaching roadworks, according to reports.
John Hubble spoke for the first time at length to Garda investigators late last week, more than a week after the tragedy on the Kentstown Road.

Sources close to the investigation told one Sunday newspaper that Mr Hubble told he braked twice approaching the temporary traffic lights at the site of the road works.

As he pressed the brakes the second time, the rear of the bus skidded and smashed into at least one of the two cars which are believed to have collided with each other just prior to the bus coming on the scene.

The bus continued to skid before turning over and ending on its side, with the front facing the direction it had been travelling from.

Mr Hubble’s testimony suggests the surface of the road and the weather conditions it had been raining heavily played a part in the accident.

Five girls, Clare McCluskey, 18, Deirdre Scanlon, 17, Aimee McCabe, 15, Lisa Callan, 15, and Sinead Ledwidge, 15, all died in the crash. Dozens of other children were injured.

Three separate investigations have been launched by the Gardaí, Bus Eireann and the Health and Safety Authority.

The HSA closed down the road works four days after the crash after it emerged Meath County Council did not have a health and safety plan in place. The works began again the following Monday.

News Letter

**Via IRA2

Becks’ Men On Terror Alert

By Joanne Lowry And Simon Hunter

Monday 6th June 2005

The England soccer team will train at an Army base when they come to Northern Ireland in September because of a “real threat” to their safety, it was claimed last night.

Security fears about a possible attack by dissident republicans on the highprofile England stars means that they will prepare for the World Cup qualifier at Palace Barracks in Holywood.

For the three days leading up to the game, England will use the Army base to train. They will stay in a hotel.

Last night, Ulster Unionist councillor Jim Rodgers said that there was an extensive security operation to ensure that stars such as David Beckham and Wayne Rooney were not vulnerable to attacks.

Irelandclick.com

35 years since the Falls Curfew

click to view - ‘BELFAST 1971 - off the Falls Road’ - photo from here

This year sees the 35th anniversary of one of the most important events in the history of the conflict in Belfast, the Falls Curfew from 1-3 July 1970.

As part of the Sinn Féin Cead Bliain celebrations, a series of events have been organised to commemorate this significant event in modern history. On Friday 1 July, a panel of local republicans who led the resistance to the curfew will give their recollections of those turbulent days at an event in the Sean MacDiarmada GAA clubrooms (facing Dunville Park) beginning at 8pm.
On Saturday 2 July a plaque commemorating those murdered during the curfew by the British army will be unveiled at the 7-10 shop next door to the Sinn Féin Centre at 2.00pm. This will be followed by a special video showing of the curfew along with a photographic exhibition compiled by local republicans of life under curfew again in the MacDiarmada GAC.
On Sunday 3 July there will be a re-enactment of the breaking of the curfew by the women of Belfast starting at 2.00pm at Cavendish Street outside St Paul’s Church. This will be followed by a political discussion and social function afterwards in the MacDiarmada GAC.
We would appeal to everyone who lived in the Falls at the time but have since moved to make a special effort to return to take part in the week’s events.
The Falls Curfew was a watershed in modern Irish history and marked a clear turning point in the relationship between the British Crown Forces and the nationalist community. Anyone who has old photographs that they would like shown as part of the exhibition can contact Gerard or Robert at 90508989 and they can be copied and the originals returned. We would urge everyone to show their support once again for the people of the Falls by attending the weekend of events.

Is sinne,
Gerard Fusco
Robert McClenaghan

IOL

Adams asks crash witnesses to help investigation

06/06/2005 - 14:05:24

Gerry Adams today appealed to witnesses to a fatal road accident in west Belfast involving a police Land Rover to help Northern Ireland’s Police Ombudsman establish what exactly happened.

The Sinn Féin president urged witnesses to co-operate with an investigation by Nuala O’Loan’s investigative team following concerns in his constituency about the death on Saturday of 29-year-old Jim McMenamin.

It is the second time this year Mr Adams has called on nationalists and republicans to co-operate with solicitors and the Police Ombudsman in an investigation.

He made a similar appeal following the murder in January of Belfast father-of-two Robert McCartney.

Mr McMenamin was struck by a police Land Rover, responding to an emergency, on the Upper Springfield Road at around 1am.

Police officers administered first aid to Mr McMenamin, who lived in the area, but he died at the scene.

Sinn Féin has said local residents were concerned about police behaviour during the incident.

“There is serious disquiet in the local community, shared by the family, that the PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland) handling of Saturday’s incident gives cause for real concern,” the West Belfast MP said.

“Many serious questions need to be answered about the circumstances surrounding the killing of Jim McMenamin, the role of the PSNI and its behaviour immediately after the incident.

“The family wants no cover-up. They want the truth.”

The accident was referred immediately to the Police Ombudsman, and a team was at the scene shortly after it happened.

Mr Adams said his colleagues had been in contact with the Ombudsman’s office and the local community.

“I am appealing to anyone who saw anything, or who has any information, to bring that forward to the Office of the Police Ombudsman which is carrying out an investigation into this incident,” he said.

“It is important that this is done in conjunction with a solicitor and members of my staff this morning have spoken both to the Office of the Police Ombudsman and to local community groups to try and ensure that all of this is done speedily.”

On Saturday, the Ombudsman dispatched forensic scientists and scenes of crime officers to the scene of the accident which was videoed and photographed.

The police Land Rover and exhibits were removed for forensic analysis.

Door to door inquiries were also carried out yesterday near the scene of the tragedy.

“We would still be keen to speak to anyone in the area and particularly anyone who may have seen the accident,” a spokesman for the Police Ombudsman’s office said today.

On Saturday SDLP councillor for the area, Tim Attwood, said the death was a “terrible tragedy” and urged the Ombudsman to conduct the enquiry speedily and publish its full conclusions.

Daily Ireland

North’s Prison Service under fire on workforce

by Eamonn Houston
e.houston@dailyireland.com

The Northern Ireland Prison Service, already facing criticism for its treatment of female inmates, was last night rapped after it emerged that Catholics make up just under nine per cent of its workforce.
The figure was revealed in response to questions tabled in Westminster by the SDLP MP Eddie McGrady.
Eighty per cent of the workforce is drawn from the Protestant community.
SDLP justice spokesman Alban Maginness expressed his alarm at the new figures.
Over the past five years, Catholic representation in the prison service has come in the range of 8.2 per cent to 8.7 per cent.
The Prison Service employs some 2,000 staff in a variety of posts.
The workforce includes nurses, dog handlers, vocational training instructors, cooks, electricians, joiners, searchers and civil servants, in addition to prison officers and governors.
There are no plans for a recruitment drive at present, making it unlikely that the religious composition of the workforce will change in the foreseeable future.
Mr Maginness said the service was unrepresentative of society in the North.
“Just as we need a balanced police service and a balanced judiciary, we also need a balanced prison service.
“A balanced workforce is vital for the protection against sectarianism and unfair treatment.
“But unless something radical is done, it will never come about in the prison service,” Mr Maginness said.
The Prison Service has admitted the existence of the religious imbalance in its workforce.
The recruitment section of its website states that job applications are especially sought from Roman Catholics and women.
“The Northern Ireland Prison Service is committed to equality of opportunity and welcomes applications from the public, private and voluntary sectors and from all suitably qualified applicants irrespective of religious belief, gender, disability, race, political opinion, age, marital status, sexual orientation, or whether or not they have dependents,” the website states.
Mr Maginness has urged the British government to take action on the imbalance.
“They have a duty to ensure fairness in every public service.
“They need to make far-reaching changes to the Prison Service, like those currently under way in policing, to ensure fair representation and fair treatment for everyone,” he said.
Prison Service staff are employed across a number of sites including the service’s headquarters at Dundonald House, Maghaberry prison, Magilligan prison, Hydebank Wood young offenders’ centre and prison, and the Prison Service College at Millisle in Co Down.
The Prisoner Escort Group has staff based at courtrooms throughout the North. The group is responsible for escorting people to and from court.
The Northern Ireland Prison Service recently faced censure in a report examining the treatment of female inmates.
Provision for women and girls did not meet their requirements, the report said.
The report was published jointly by Anne Owens, the chief inspector of prisons, and by the chief inspector of criminal justice, Kit Chivers.
They warned the service that it must urgently seek the help of prison services in other jurisdictions that had developed policies to address the specific needs of women in custody.

Daily Ireland

The weapon of change for nationalists remains ourselves

MAIRTIN O MUILLEOIR
To comment: m.omuilleoir@dailyireland.com

(photo from here)

I was barely out of shorts the day I saw Malachy McNally tumble from a Morris 1100 outside our house and loose off a volley of shots from his M1 Carbine at a British army pig which had been negotiating the barricade at the top of Ramoan Gardens.
I’m sure it’s 33 years if it’s a day since that gun battle but that image of a distressed armoured vehicle stopping hesitantly and then reversing like the blazes out of our estate stays with me as the enduring image of the indomitable spirit of the nationalist community.
Despite snatch squads and raiding parties, internment camps and informers, Black Watch and Paras, curfews and condemnations, this was a people who would not go down easy.
For west Belfast teenagers, that’s what the IRA was: their pride and their dignity. Without the IRA, they had nothing. Harassed and humiliated by cocky squaddies during the day, they knew that when night fell over Andersonstown, the odds would even up.
Loyalty to the IRA spurred ordinary people on to defy prison sentences and death squads to keep the struggle alive.
Over two-and-a-half decades, unbelieveable sacrifices were made by an incredible people to keep the IRA in action.
Don’t take my word for it: ask anyone who has tossed from side to side on a sleepless night because there’s a dump in the coal shed, or sweated over a thousand pounder primed and ready to go in a Hiace in the garage, or stashed a Green Book behind the children’s play house moments before the search party hit, or turned the blinds just so to ensure the volunteers in the bedroom meeting could see the peelers but the peelers couldn’t see them.
They’ll all tell you the same thing: they kept the IRA going because the IRA was all that stood between them and the utter and total subjugation of a proud people.
Today, the war is over. Those who prosecuted the war and those who provided the sea in which the fighters swam are entitled to hold their heads high.
Though war is by its nature a terror and a horror, they held themselves with honour and dignity, took on an enemy as big as an empire itself and acquited themselves well.
While vindicated, they are wise enough to know that their opponents will try to besmirch their achievement and deny them a fair peace.
But they also know that war is a waste if you don’t win the peace. That’s why in the days ahead they’re willing to see the IRA do whatever it takes to achieve the same freedom and rights for them which are taken for granted by people the world over.
Sentiment and nostalgia have their place too but the tough decisions which lie ahead must be taken dispassionately.
Nothing is sacred, no group is above the democratic voice of the people. That’s why nationalists who made the war possible understand that the people’s army must make way for the people’s party.
The benefits are there to be grabbed. A bigger mandate for Sinn Féin, nationalist hands on the levers of power, a chance to really make change happen.
While the IRA continues to exist, republicans are fielding two teams. Now the’s time for people of immense talent and skill to take their position with the starting fifteen. Who can say that Sinn Féin ever engaged in the political field and didn’t come out ahead?
If the IRA ceases to be, it will liberate the embattled peace process, invigorate nationalists and republicans, put unionists on the back foot and focus minds on the only political show in town: fighting peacefully and democratically to secure the bridgehead of the Good Friday Agreement.
From there, it’ll be a long and tortuous road to a United Ireland, but rather than offering a shortcut to that destination a return to armed struggle will simply hold back freedom’s caravan.
There are those in the British Cabinet and in the DUP who might think they can find a weapon potent enough to turn back this tide of political change. But nationalists took their best shot over 25 years and remained standing.
And ask nationalists what their weapon for change is and they’ll tell you: “ourselves”.

Daily Ireland

PSNI assault claims

By Connla Young c.young@dailyireland.com

The Police Ombudsman will today be asked to investigate allegations of brutality against the PSNI after nationalist protesters and a Sinn Féin assemblyman were injured during a weekend loyalist parade in Ballymena, Co Antrim.

Ciaran Shiels, a solicitor with Belfast based Madden and Finucane Solicitors, last night confirmed that he will contact the Police Ombudsman’s Office on behalf of several clients later today.
It is understood the allegations against the PSNI include serious assault, use of batons, use of police dogs, criminal damage and sectarian abuse.
In a violent series of incidents described as “provocative, intimidating and sectarian”, a group of nationalist protesters say they were set on by heavily-armed members of a PSNI riot squad on Saturday during a loyalist parade through a nationalist part of the Co Antrim town.
Protesters say they were attacked by baton-wielding members of the PSNI in two separate incidents.
One man later required hospital treatment for serious head injuries. He is expected to appear at Coleraine Magistrate’s Court this morning charged with disorderly behaviour.
It has also been claimed that another man was beaten by two PSNI officers and bitten by a police dog in a nearby garden. Several protesters have claimed that they were called ‘Fenian bastards’ by PSNI officers during the incident.
In total, three people were arrested during the clashes.
Nationalist politicians, including Sinn Féin’s Philip McGuigan, who says he was kicked and verbally abused by a PSNI officer, and the SDLP’s Sean Farren and members of the Parades Commission were present to monitor the behaviour of bands and supporters taking part in a parade to mark the 30th anniversary of the Pride of the Maine band.
A small group of nationalists also gathered to protest at the parade passing through a mainly Catholic part of the predominantly unionist town.
Nationalists say the protest was running smoothly until bandsmen emerged onto the Market Street area of the town. PSNI officers in armoured Land Rovers are then said to have blockaded roads running alongside All Saints Catholic church and attacked bystanders with batons. A short time later a second and sustained baton charge was launched at the Broughshane Road district of the town resulting in injuries to a number of protesters.
North Antrim MLA Philip McGuigan says he will today lodge a complaint with the Ombudsman about the PSNI’s behaviour.
“What I witnessed on Saturday night was reminiscent of the scenes at Burntollet during the early civil rights campaign. It is obvious that nationalists in Ballymena are still fighting that campaign to gain their civil rights. The police operation was an absolute disgrace. The PSNI, in my opinion, acted in a sectarian manner. It was clearly evident that they wanted to provoke trouble.
“I have requested an urgent meeting with both the Parades Commission and the Police Ombudsman to discuss Saturday night’s events.”
North Antrim SDLP assemblyman Sean Farren called for talks to resolve the parades issue in Ballymena.
“It is clear that new thinking is starting about these parades. We have achieved that much. The presence of an authorised officer from the Parades Commission is welcome. The process of further discussion now needs to continue.”
Tensions in the town remained high for a number of hours after the parade which didn’t end until after 11pm.
A spokesperson for the PSNI said they have not received any complaints relating to Saturday night’s incident.

RTE News

PSNI probe suspicious death in Bangor

06 June 2005 15:32

Police in Northern Ireland are treating the death of man from burn injuries as suspicious.

The man, who was 43, was found with extensive burns in a wooded area of Bangor in Co Down yesterday.

He died in hospital several hours later.

The man has been named as Robert Heaney of Kilclief Gardens in Bangor.

RTE News

Jewellery store raided in Belfast

06 June 2005 15:59

Raiders have stolen diamond rings valued at £150,000 from a jewellery store in south Belfast.

Three men carried out the robbery on the Lisburn Road this morning just after 9.30am.

One of the men was armed with a handgun and staff were threatened during the raid.

The raiders are thought to have made their escape in a silver Ford Focus which was later found burned out in the nearby Randal Park area.

BBC

Cemetery attack victim ‘abducted’

The area was cordoned off for scientific examination

A man who was found shot in a County Down graveyard had been abducted from a filling station, police have said.

It is understood up to four men dragged the 26-year-old into Redburn Cemetery in Holywood, where he was wounded in the chest.

The man is critically ill in hospital. A local resident raised the alarm at 0230 BST after hearing a gunshot followed by cries for help.

Police said they were treating the incident as attempted murder.

Superintendent Graham Shields said the victim managed to tell police he had been abducted from a nearby petrol station.

“We were able to speak to him and he was able to tell us that he had been abducted by three or four men from the area of Redburn Filling Station on the Old Holywood Road,” he said.

The man was abducted from a nearby filling station

He added that paramilitary involvement was one line of inquiry being investigated.

The scene is cordoned off as police crime scene officers search the surrounding area.

Detectives have been carrying out door-to-door enquiries on Monday.

Redburn Primary School, which is in the cordoned-off area, was closed for the day.

Morning classes at the nearby North Down and Ards Institute’s Holywood Centre were also cancelled, but evening classes will go ahead as usual.

Irelandclick.com

March branded sectarian as offensive gestures are made to nationalists

Sinn Féin councillor for Upper Falls, Gerard O’Neill, has slammed this year’s Suffolk Road parade as “blatantly sectarian” after band members arriving for the march attempted to rile the nationalist community with offensive gestures and jeers.

“The Parades Commission made it very clear that this event had to be over at 4.30pm on Saturday afternoon, but it was still going on well after 5pm, greatly disrupting the local nationalist community,” said Cllr O’Neill.

However, the parade – organised by the Upper Falls Protestant Boys band, based in the Suffolk estate – was a decidedly lower-key affair than last year, with 33 bands registered to march, but less than 20 making the trip to the Black’s Road estate.

“Organisers of this year’s march didn’t seem to get the support they were hoping for,” said Cllr O’Neill, which he said may have been attributed to the full-scale street brawl of last year which saw two rival loyalist gangs coming to blows after a four-hour march.

“There was a significantly lower turnout than last year, and there wasn’t a great turnout from the local community in support of the march either,” he added. “Protestant people don’t want the march because they know it heightens tensions, and for the same reason nationalist parades are re-routed away from that area, to be sensitive to the people who live in the Suffolk estate.”

Continuing their surveillance of the nationalist residents of the Blacks Road, the PSNI this year photographed and recorded nationalists who were monitoring the march.

“The PSNI were once again videoing and photographing the nationalist people, and it has to be asked, what’s that all about?

“This was meant to be a one-off parade three years ago, it’s blatantly sectarian and it shouldn’t be happening,” he added.

However, despite concerns that last year’s show of loyalist paramilitary-style regalia would once again raise its head, Cllr O’Neill admitted that, though his position allowed him to see less of the parade than last year, there seemed, this year to be significantly less on show. Controversial band, Ulster First Flute, who attended last year’s parade in paramilitary-style outfits, this year sported an array of casual t-shirts and jeans.

“At the end of the day the parade went off peacefully, but that is because we ensured that it did, and that there were no problems from the nationalist side,” concluded Cllr O’Neill.

Journalist:: Ciara McGuigan

Irelandclick.com

Fightback urged over education

West Belfast MLA Michael Ferguson, who is Sinn Féin’s spokesperson for Education, Employment and Learning, has described as “thorough” a meeting held last week with Chief Executive of the Western Education and Library, (WELB) Barry Mulholand.

Travelling to Omagh for the 90-minute meeting, Cllr Ferguson headed up a delegation of elected representatives including, MLAs Tomas O’Reilly and Barry McElduff, as well as councillors Paul Fleming and Maeve McLaughlin of Derry City Council, and Claire Mc Gill of Strabane District Council, to discuss the “deepening crisis in the education system situation” following cuts to the North’s five education boards by the British government.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Ferguson said, “Sinn Féin is aware that there is unprecedented alarm across civic society at the deepening crisis within the education system and this is the message we will carry into our ministerial meetings.

“We had a very thorough discussion on the government’s plan to reduce the budget to mainstream educational provision over the next three years and the requirement to claw back spend,” he added.

“It is clear that the long-term impact of cuts across the five board areas will be to reduce dramatically the standard of education for our children and that those children most affected will be those children with special needs, that the government have not allocated investment to.”

Disgusted by the numerous job losses being suffered across schools in the North on an almost weekly basis, Cllr Ferguson said that the loss of patrol crossing personnel, caretakers, secretaries, canteen workers and at least 18 teachers, has resulted in the education system being thrown into “a state of shock and disbelief”.

“Education, the cornerstone of civil society, is being eroded before our eyes,” said Cllr Ferguson, “and we must fight back.”

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

Irelandclick.com

Family seeks truth after late-night road death

The family of 29-year-old Jim McMenamin, who was killed after being hit by a PSNI Land Rover in the early hours of Saturday morning, wants answers to questions about his death.

The mechanical engineer from Glenalina Road off the Whiterock Road was making his way home from Gort na Mona GAC at about 1.10am when he was hit by a PSNI Land Rover travelling up the Springfield Road in the direction of the Travellers’ encampment. It is understood that Jim was crossing the road and on the central diagonal stripes when the PSNI vehicle hit him.

As they struggle to come to terms with Jim’s death, the family are concerned about a number of aspects of the incident, notably the speed and position of the Land Rover when it hit Jim, and the removal of the officers from the scene of the incident.

“We are all devastated,” said Jim’s brother Colm McMenamin. “All we want is the truth, no cover-up. All we want is for them to tell the truth. The driver of the jeep was taken to New Barnsley to be breathalysed but he should have been breathalysed at the scene.

“They say that they gave Jim first aid on the scene but he was killed outright. The police who were in the Land Rover left the scene straight away. They were taken to a barracks. If it had been a joyrider hit my brother, it would have been another crime if they then drove on, for leaving the scene of a crime. Those four men were able to leave the scene within five minutes,” said Colm.

Colm believes that the PSNI were driving too fast on a stretch of road where there is a 30 mile per hour speed limit. The skid marks, which stretch the length of 16 diagonal stripes indicate that the Land Rover was travelling at well over the speed limit.

“I saw the damage at the front of the jeep, if you had hit a cow at 30 miles an hour it wouldn’t have caused as much damage. The front of those jeeps are really solid too, especially where the grid was and yet there were dents on the grid and the bonnet.”

Jim McMenamin had spent the night with his cousin, Paul Lynch, at a friend’s 21st birthday party in nearby Gort na Mona GAC. Jim, an engineer with Nelson Hydraulics and who had recently become manager of their site in the Linfield Industrial Estate, was to work the following morning, so although he had had a few drinks, he was still under control, said Paul. At the end of the birthday celebrations Paul was heading to a party and had offered Jim a lift in a taxi but Jim said that he preferred to walk. That was the last that Paul saw of his cousin alive.

Paul said that he couldn’t believe it when he heard that Jim had died, having only just left him 15 minutes earlier.

“I am gutted. I just keep saying to myself that if he had come with me this wouldn’t have happened. I’m gutted. I can’t get my head around what has happened. I feel that I’m lost without him here now. Words cannot express what his father and mother are going through, and his whole family as well.
“This is going to be a long battle but I don’t care if it takes years, we won’t stop until we get the truth.”

Sinn Féin West Belfast MLA Michael Ferguson said, “Our first thoughts are with Jim McMenamin’s family at this dreadful time. Local people are very disturbed at the manner of the death and community workers are extremely critical. .”

The PSNI’s involvement in the death means that the Police Ombudsman’s office, headed by Nuala O’Loan, are carrying out an investigation. A spokesperson for the office said, “We have forensic scientists and scenes of the crime officers at the location. The area has been videoed and photographed and any exhibits have been removed. The police vehicle has also been removed for further forensic analysis.”

The Ombudsman’s office are asking anyone who saw what happened, or have any other information about the incident, to contact them at 90828627.

Journalist:: Damien McCarney

Irelandclick.com

We want the truth

THE family of a 29-year-old Ballymurphy man killed by a PSNI Land Rover on the Upper Springfield Road in the early hours of Saturday say they want answers to questions surrounding the death.

Jim McMenamin was struck and killed by the PSNI vehicle as he crossed the road outside Gort na Mona GAC, where he had spent the evening with his cousin at a birthday party. The PSNI say the vehicle involved was responding to an emergency call, but the family have concerns about the speed and positioning of the heavy vehicle when it struck Mr McMenamin.

Tyre marks at the scene reveal that the Land Rover veered right into diagonal white lines in the middle of the road where Jim was standing. And the length of the skid marks suggest that the vehicle was travelling at more than the 30mph limit for that stretch of road. Jim McMenamin’s family say they want an explanation for all of this – and they also want to know why the four PSNI officers were allowed to leave the scene shortly after the incident. They claim the driver of the Land Rover was breathalysed at the nearby New Barnsley barracks and not at the scene as is the usual practice.

Journalist:: Damien McCarney

Irelandclick.com

Two more suicides over the weekend

THE suicide crisis deepened after two young men took their own lives over the weekend in West Belfast.

The body of John Wisdom, 26, from Ballymurphy, was found in the City Cemetery just before 10am on Saturday morning.

His death comes less than a year after 18-year-old Fiona Barnes took her own life in the same cemetery beside the grave of her boyfriend Michael McComb, 18, who had taken his own life three months earlier. Michael’s sister Debbie was killed by death-drivers on the Whiterock Road in 2002.

Less than 24 hours after the first body was found at the weekend, the body of 20-year-old Danny Copeland from Turf Lodge was found on waste ground on the lower slopes of the Black Mountain behind St Patrick’s Training School.

Describing this latest double suicide as “a devastating blow to the community” Sinn Féin councillor Michael Ferguson also extended his sympathies to the family of 29-year-old Jim McMenamin, from Glenalina Road, who was knocked down and killed by a PSNI Land Rover in the early hours of Saturday morning.

“The local community will be horrified by the death of three young men under 30 years of age in the past two days,” said Cllr Ferguson.

“Three families are now mourning the loss of loved ones and in an area so small, where everyone knows everyone else. The trauma, sense of loss and bewilderment will be felt deeply.

“We can only support the families as best we can by offering our prayers and thoughts.”

Journalist:: Ciara McGuigan