PSNI in renewed bank robbery appeal

Detectives working on the Northern Bank robbery have made new appeals for information on vital lines of inquiry.

Detectives working on the Northern Bank robbery have made new appeals for information on vital lines of inquiry.

The call was made as they released new pictures of one of the men taken hostage by the robbers carrying a distinctive sports bag containing £1.15 million out of the bank in Belfast city centre using the staff's side entrance.

Mr Chris Ward (23), a member of the bank's staff, had been ordered to pack his large Umbro sports bag with Northern Bank £100 notes and £50 notes and to deliver the bag to another gang member at a bus stop just 100 metres from the bank.

The PSNI wants anyone who may have seen the bag being given to one of the thieves to come forward. Police also want to know what happened to the bag and the man who took it away in the direction of Wellington Place.

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According to Det Supt Andy Sproule, the senior investigating officer, this member of the gang "had his face covered - his hat pulled down and his scarf pulled up".

"Surely someone must have seen the bag handed over," he said.

They also want to hear from the driver of a car which drove past the wife of Mr Kevin McMullan after she was released in a remote area of Co Down following the robbery in Belfast.

Mrs Karen McMullan had been stripped of her outer clothes and ordered to wear a forensic-style boiler suit while she was held blindfolded and terrified at an unknown location for nearly 24 hours.

Once the gang knew the robbery was completed, Mrs McMullan was released and her car set alight at Drumkeeragh Forest between Castlewellan and Ballynahinch in Co Down.

The PSNI said she was traumatised and disorientated as she stumbled on to Drumnaquoile Road. At this point she was nearly struck by a passing car.

The driver and any passengers are asked to make themselves known to the police to help them with the inquiry.

Det Supt Sproule said the 45-strong detective team was now following more than 1,000 lines of inquiry and had taken hundreds of statements. He said the gang members who took the Ward family hostage at their west Belfast home spoke with noticeable Belfast accents. Assistance was also being given by the National Crime Squad, the National Criminal Intelligence Service and other agencies throughout the world, he said.

Det Supt Sproule said his job was to produce evidence concerning the robbery in court and he would not rehearse in public the evidence in advance of that.