Three arrested over death of 67-year-old in Co Antrim

Detectives in Northern Ireland have arrested three people in connection with the death of a 67-year-old man.

The body of Eddie Girvan was discovered when police officers gained entry to his property at Greenisland, Co Antrim, at 9.30pm on Monday.

Mr Girvan was found with his hands bound and he had suffered a stab wound to the chest.

Detectives from the PSNI’s Serious Crime Branch said they had arrested a 29-year-old woman and two men, aged 23 and 24, on suspicion of murder.

They are being interviewed at Musgrave police station in Belfast.

Mr Girvan’s body was discovered when officers making routine inquiries about an individual police had earlier stopped in Belfast called to the house.

The individual who was stopped was then arrested on suspicion of murder, along with the two other individuals.

One of Mr Girvan's two cars - a silver Hyundai Sonata with the registration MKZ 9818 - had been removed from the property.

It was recovered by police about 16km away on Verner Street in Belfast city centre.

Police said the vehicle was seen leaving Greenisland just before 7.30am on Monday and was being “driven dangerously”.

It is understood to have been involved in a minor collision in Belfast city centre later on Monday.

Det Chief Insp John McVea, who is leading the investigation, said he was appealing to the public for information about Mr Girvan’s car.

“I need to hear from anyone who saw this silver car any time over the weekend, either in Greenisland or Belfast until it was recovered in the Verner Street area of the city in the early hours of this morning,” he said.

“We know it was spotted being driven dangerously along the motorway between Rathcoole and Belfast yesterday.”

Mr Girvan was a retired plumber, a separated father-of-two, and an antiques enthusiast.

There were valuable items in the property but nothing of note was stolen.

Postmortem examination

Det Chief Insp McVea said a postmortem examination will take place to confirm the exact cause of Mr Girvan’s death, but in the meantime detectives are treating the death as murder.

“An incident such as this is unusual for a community like Greenisland and I am appealing to local people for their assistance,” he said.

“Detectives are making house-to-house enquiries because we need to speak to those local people who knew Eddie Girvan and saw him in the past few days.

“I also want to hear from anyone who saw or heard any activity at Mr Girvan’s home at 162 Station Road over the past weekend until yesterday morning around 7am.

“This is a shocking crime and our sympathies today are with Mr Girvan’s family and friends.”

Det Chief Insp McVea said it was “too early” to speculate on a motive for murder, but urged anyone with information to contact detectives at Seapark on the non-emergency number 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800-555111.