McCrory murder suspect held after cross-Border search

A man has been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of Barry McCrory (35) in a flat in Derry last Thursday.

Police on both sides of the Irish border had been hunting Kieran McLaughlin (58) for seven days.

A Police Service of Northern Ireland spokesman said Mr McLaughlin was arrested in Derry this morning on suspicion of the murder of Mr McCrory.

The six-hour operation that culminated with the arrest began when Mr McLaughlin was spotted in a silver car in Co Donegal last night.

Gardai followed the vehicle until it crossed over the Border, when the PSNI took over. The car was subsequently abandoned and another vehicle was taken.

Mr McLaughlin was hiding behind a car in the Fern Park area when he was arrested at about 3am. It is understood he was armed, but no shots were fired during the arrest operation.

PSNI chief inspector Andy Lemon said the operation had been “tricky, lengthy and high-pressured”. “This has been going on for seven days,” he said.

“There’s been an awful lot of officers deployed. I am just glad we were able to bring this to a successful conclusion and there were no shots fired and there was no one hurt.”

“It was a constant operation, constant movement, constant follow-ups through the whole area, it was high pressure.”

Mr Lemon said a follow-up operation was on going to establish whether there were more guns in the vehicles involved.

Hundreds of people attended a rally in Guildhall Square last week to protest at the murder of Mr McCrory who died in his Shipquay Street flat where the victim was staying with his girlfriend, Liz Timoney.

Mr McCrory was shot by a lone gunman. His partner was bundled into another room in the apartment before the fatal shots were fired. Mr McLaughlin’s family had urged him to hand himself to the authorities.

Mr McCrory’s murder sparked a cross-Border hunt with gardaí surrounding a farmhouse between the villages of Burnfoot and Muff in Co Donegal during their search.

Additional reporting PA