The father of a 20-year-old Belfast man fatally stabbed at the weekend has blamed his death on the inability of Northern politicians to reach a compromise on policing.
The body of Mr Martin Crozier was discovered early on Sunday in the Lenadoon area of west Belfast. A 23 year old Belfast man was charged last night with the murder. The man is due to appear at Belfast Magistrates' Court today. A number of other people remain in RUC custody.
Mr Joseph Crozier praised the RUC's response to his son's murder but said the lack of "a proper force" had a role to play in Martin's death.
"My son is lying dead because politicians are sitting around a table doing nothing," he said.
Mr Crozier said eight recent stabbing deaths should put the policing debate in context. "There are eight people dead, and they are going to sit and argue round a table?"
An SDLP delegation yesterday met the RUC Chief Constable to discuss policing. They later expressed general satisfaction with the approach taken by Sir Ronnie Flanagan and his senior officers.
Mr Alban Maginness MLA said it was clear the Chief Constable and his team were working diligently at the matters that we had raised with him, but these issues were "still outstanding".
He said the Chief Constable had publicly and privately committed himself to implementing the reforms in the Patten report and subsequent legislation.
The RUC had the expertise necessary to manage reform but difficulties remained in the organisation, and this was not going to be an easy task, Mr Maginness said.
Mr Alex Attwood MLA said he believed the Chief Constable and his senior officers were trying to "get their heads around" other security matters such as normalisation.
After the meeting he felt they might make "even greater attempts in coming weeks".
Meanwhile the Chief Constable said all the mainstream paramilitary groupings in the North had been responsible for murders in the past year, but he stopped short of saying they had broken their ceasefires.
Interviewed in the Belfast Telegraph, Sir Ronnie said it was important to consider that the UFF, UVF and IRA had each called "a cessation of military operations".
"But all of these organisations have continued to engage in what they call civil administration, up to and including murder," he said.