Belfast murder victim Dan Murray lured by ‘bogus call’

A takeaway delivery driver murdered in west Belfast on Monday night had been lured to his death by a bogus call from a public payphone, police said.

Daniel Murray had been in Lady Street, near Grosvenor Road, with a food order when he was shot in the head at about 10.15pm on Monday.

The 55-year-old had been targeted in the past, and survived an attempt on his life in his north Belfast home last year when he was shot in the face by masked men who reportedly identified themselves as being from “the republican movement”.

Previous attacks on Mr Murray have been linked to groups known as the Continuity IRA and Action Against Drugs.

Police said the call to place the order for the Chinese takeaway delivery was believed to have been made from a phone box at the junction of Antrim Road and Cliftonville Road at about 9.58pm.

“The gunman or gunmen were then waiting for Mr Murray when he went to the Lady Street area to make the delivery,” Det Chief Inspector Richard Campbell said.

‘Cowards’

Mr Murray’s partner Ciara Austin took the phone call. She denied suggestions he has been dealing drugs and described his killers as “cowards”.

The mother of his two-year-old child told the BBC: “Everybody knows who is doing it, the dogs in the street know who is behind it and nobody is standing up to them.”

The death of Mr Murray, who was well known to police, has not been linked to two other non-fatal shootings in Belfast on the same day.

His murder came roughly three hours after a 17-year-old boy was shot in the leg in the Carlisle Square area of north Belfast. During the early hours of Monday morning a man in his 20s was also shot a number of times in an alleyway off the Antrim Road, also in north Belfast.

Police have said the three shootings did not mean there is a “gang culture” in Belfast.

In a joint statement, First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness described what happened as “barbaric and wrong”.

“We unreservedly condemn the actions of the perpetrators who care only for themselves,” a statement from the Stormont politicians said.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan also condemned the murder.