Newry getaway car 'recovered'

Published Sunday, 07 March 2010

A suspected dissident republican getaway car that disappeared after police officers left it for two days without examination has now been recovered following a bomb attack on Newry courthouse last month, police said.

The PSNI had faced criticism after it emerged that the burned out vehicle, which was abandoned in south Armagh minutes after a car bomb attack on nearby Newry courthouse last month, had been removed without its knowledge.

The police received reports of the burning car at Drumintee 20 minutes after the blast in Newry, but 48 hours later it was taken from the site by unknown persons.

Officers conceded they were "unable to respond as fully or as quickly" as they would have wished in regard to the reports but explained that they had not initially approached the car in case it was a booby trap.

On Sunday, a PSNI spokesman said the vehicle, which could hold vital forensic clues as to the car bombers' identity, had now been located again.

"A vehicle which police, at this stage, believe was the car set on fire in the area of Drumintee just before 11pm on Monday 22 February, was subsequently recovered for further investigation," he said.

The police would give no further details where the car was found, but it is understood it was recovered days after it went missing.

No-one was injured in the 250lb Newry bomb, but the court building was badly damaged.

The initial revelation that the vehicle had been removed prompted an angry response from the leader of the hardline Traditional Unionist Voice party, Jim Allister.

Mr Allister asked why the car was not kept under observation even if officers were not able to approach it; "The fact that it could be removed is not just embarrassing but a telling indication of who really controls South Armagh, evidently, not the PSNI," he said.

Comments

4 Comments

Christopher in Belfast wrote (808 days ago):

Does no one see a suspicious that this car was "recovered"? Surely this makes it un-useable as evidence?

John in Lurgan wrote (808 days ago):

No-one should be critisising the PSNI's actions over recent incidents, they were lured to a housing estate in Craigavon almost a year ago under the pretence that a house was being subjected to stone-thrower's and what happened, one of their colleaugue's Stephen Carroll met his untimely death. It's ok for people sitting in the comfortable surroundings of their own home to point their finger and say they should've done this & they should've done that, just sit back for a minute and put yourselves in their shoes for once. They are doing a job that in most cases is thankless and putting their own personal safety on the back burner for us the public. We always hear the negative and rarely the positive, catch a grip.

MILO in LIMAVADY wrote (809 days ago):

Jim Allister is correct about who controls south Armagh, only last year the PSNI came across a bunch of renegades armed to the teeth, what did they do, they turned and ran.

Mark in Belfast wrote (809 days ago):

Whilst I can appreciate the job of the police is a difficult one, the comment on the car possibly being used as a lure struck home. A few weeks ago (It was reported in the news) the parents of a friend of mine were robbed and beaten by a couple of masked men. They had a panic alarm installed in the house, and the police refused to answer their calls in case it was a 'trap' - the end result was the father was badly beaten, and the mother was extremely traumatised. The police were never more than 2 minutes away.