Man arrested in connection with NI murders

A man has been arrested in England by police investigating two murders in Northern Ireland involving alleged security force collusion…

A man has been arrested in England by police investigating two murders in Northern Ireland involving alleged security force collusion.

The 46-year-old is being questioned by police in Antrim about the 1990 killings of Eoin Morley and ranger Cyril Smith.

He was arrested this morning in south east London as police review thousands of killings in the North.

Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan conducted an inquiry into the shooting of Mr Morley in Newry, Co Down, and found that police Special Branch withheld information from detectives at the time.

READ MORE

The unit handles agents for the police to pass on information about terrorist activity.

The Ombudsman's office found significant failings in the original murder investigation, which came after a time of heightened tensions between the IRA and the Irish Peoples Liberation Organisation, a splinter Republican group.

Mrs O'Loan is currently examining the death of Mr Smith (21), who died after a bomb ripped through the permanent border vehicle checkpoint at Killeen, outside Newry, in October 1990.

He had just rescued James McAvoy (68), who was warned by an IRA gang that his sons would be shot if he did not drive the bomb to the checkpoint.

The PSNI's Historical Inquiries Team is re-examining over 3,000 murders during the Troubles to establish fresh investigation links.

The team is examining killings committed between 1969 and the signing of the Belfast Agreement in 1998 and is understood to have been looking at both cases.