Classmates of a schoolboy murdered on a railway line in Northern Ireland have provided detectives with fresh leads in the investigation, it was revealed today.
They came forward after a senior police officer stood in front of 350 pupils at morning assembly at St Joseph’s High School in Coleraine and appealed for help finding the killers of 14-year-old Ryan Quinn.
The teenager died when he was struck by a train outside Portrush last Friday night. Police believe he was chased onto the tracks by a group of men after an altercation in a nearby bar.
Officers arrested four people in the hours after the incident but they were later released on bail.
Detective Chief Inspector Frankie Taylor today appealed for school friends who were with Ryan in McLaughlin’s bar that night to come forward.
Minutes after he finished addressing the assembly, police received a number of calls from pupils with new information.
“Ryan can’t tell us what happened to him so we need somebody to be a witness for him,” Mr Taylor said afterwards. “We have already spoken to around 60 people who were in the bar but we know there were more there that night. We need to speak to people in the bar and, more importantly, those who were out the back of the bar when Ryan was chased.”
McLaughlin’s bar is less than 100 metres from the section of track where Ryan was killed.
It is understood he fled down a narrow pathway before somehow getting on to the line. It is believed he phoned his father for help just moments before being hit by a passing train.
PA