Avinash Treebhoowoon, who is accused of murdering Michaela McAreavey in Mauritius. Photograph: Paul Faith/PA One of the hotel workers accused of murdering a Northern Irish woman on her honeymoon has told a court in Mauritius that police tried to suffocate him with a towel to extract a confession.Avinash Treebhoowoon also alleged that officers investigating the murder of Michaela McAreavey held his head in a bucket of water during his interrogation.The 30-year-old is one of two men facing murder charges over the death of the newlywed daughter of the Gaelic football manager Mickey Harte.Treebhoowoon confessed to police that he was involved in strangling the teacher but has now claimed he was tortured into signing the statement. The defence lawyer Sanjeev Teeluckdharry repeated a complaint his client ... Continue reading →

John Paul Wootton, who was 17 at the time of Constable Stephen Carroll's murder. Photograph: Paul Faith/PA Northern Ireland's director of public prosecutions is to refer the sentencing of a dissident republican found guilty of killing a police officer to the court of appeal as pressure builds to impose a tougher sentence.The head of the Public Prosecution Service, Barra McGrory QC, confirmed the move after a judge in the case of two County Armagh men found guilty of murdering Constable Stephen Carroll three years ago said he would support a review of sentencing guidelines.Lord Justice Girvan made his remarks following criticism from Carroll's widow, Kate, and wider family that the 14-year sentence imposed on John Paul Wootton, who was 17 at the time of the ... Continue reading →

The Northern Ireland executive has promised an inquiry into the abuse of children in church-run homes and by members of the Catholic clergy. Photograph: Paul Faith/PA A Northern Ireland government-led investigation into clerical child abuse may fail because of a lack of powers to make witnesses come forward and seize internal church files, Amnesty International has warned.The power-sharing executive at Stormont has promised an inquiry into the abuse of children in church-run homes and by members of the Catholic clergy.One of the worst abusers was the late Fr Brendan Smyth who committed many of his crimes against children in the 1970s and 1980s in Northern Ireland.But in its annual global report on human rights, Amnesty highlighted problems with the terms of the inquiry's reference."In September, ... Continue reading →

The Michaela McAreavey murder trial was told that Avinash Treebhoowoon and his alleged accomplice Sandip Moonea decided to kill the honeymooner because they feared she could have identified them. Photograph: Paul Faith/PA One of two men accused of murdering the Northern Irish bride Michaela McAreavey signed a confession, a court in Mauritius has been told.Prosecutors said on Wednesday that Avinash Treebhoowoon admitted that the recently married woman had "caught them red-handed" insider her room after she returned to it.The prosecution argue that the Treebhoowoon and his alleged accomplice, Sandip Moonea, decided to kill the bride because she could have identified the pair.The daughter of the Gaelic football manager and All-Ireland winner Mickey Harte was found dead at the Legends hotel on the Indian Ocean island ... Continue reading →

Avinash Treebhoowoon (left) and Sandip Mooneea arrive at court in Port Louis, Mauritius. Photograph: Paul Faith/PA Security is to be tightened around the courthouse in Mauritius where local police will lay out their case on Wednesday against two men accused of strangling a Northern Irish bride on her honeymoon last year.Crowds mobbed the family of Michaela McAreavey, including her husband, John McAreavey, as they arrived at the court on Tuesday.The family were in courtroom five to face the two men accused of strangling McAreavey, the daughter of Gaelic football manager and All-Ireland title winner Mickey Harte.Avinash Treebhoowoon, 30, and Sandip Moneea, 42, are accused of murdering McAreavey after she disturbed them while they were robbing her hotel room. The pair deny premeditated murder.Later on Wednesday ... Continue reading →

SDLP councillor John Boyle said: "There is no support in Derry for acts such as this." Photograph: Rob Durston A number of bombs have been found at an apartment in Derry, the Police Service of Northern Ireland confirmed on Tuesday.The PSNI said a 30-year-old-man has been arrested in the security operation in the Northlands area of the city.The discovery of the bombs and the arrest are part of ongoing police actions against dissident republican activity in Derry.PSNI chief inspector, Gerry Eaton, said the presence of explosive devices in the flat "could have caused significant damage or serious harm" in such a built-up residential area.Army bomb disposal officers worked to make the devices safe overnight and a number of residents had to be evacuated from the ... Continue reading →

Constable Stephen Carroll: his killers were sentenced at Belfast crown court on Monday. Photograph: PA A former Sinn Féin councillor is to begin a 25-year jail sentence for the murder of a police officer in Northern Ireland three years ago.Brendan McConville was handed the sentence for killing Constable Stephen Carroll, the first Police Service of Northern Ireland officer shot dead by paramilitaries.McConville and 21-year-old John Paul Wootton were found guilty in March of killing Carroll despite protesting their innocence throughout a nine-week trial at Belfast crown court.Wootton – who was 19 when the PSNI officer was murdered in March 2009 in a Continuity IRA ambush at Craigavon, Co Armagh – received a 14-year sentence.The defendants made no reaction as Lord Justice Paul Girvan passed sentence ... Continue reading →

Three relatives of dissident republican Colin Duffy (second left) have appeared in court on terrorism charges. Photograph: Julien Behal/PA A cousin of prominent County Armagh republican Colin Duffy has appeared in court charged with directing acts of terrorism, after the single biggest security operation directed at suspected republican paramilitaries since the IRA's 1994 ceasefire.Flanked by armed police in riot gear inside Lisburn magistrates court, Paul John Duffy was charged with directing a terrorist organisation.His appearance in court on Saturday follows the single biggest series of arrests targeting republicans in Northern Ireland in more than a decade. The operation involved both MI5 and the Police Service of Northern Ireland.Appearing alongside the 47-year-old were his two brothers Damien, 42 and Shane, 41. All three men were charged ... Continue reading →

Police and MI5 in Northern Ireland arrested seven in a swoop on alleged dissident republicans. Photograph: Paul Faith/PA file Seven people are due to appear in courts across Northern Ireland on Saturday charged with terrorism or other crimes following an intelligence operation by the police and MI5 against alleged dissident republicans.Two men and one woman will face charges of directing acts of terrorism. The trio will stand trial on legislation designed back in the 1990s to jail terrorist leaders like the top loyalist paramilitary Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair.Adair served a prison sentence for directing acts of terrorism in a case based almost solely on the word of senior police officers and intelligence reports.A 47-year-old man from Lurgan, County Armagh, and a Tyrone man aged 46 ... Continue reading →

Johnny Adair, the loyalist leader who was jailed on charges of 'directing acts of terrorism'. Photograph: Paul Faith/PA Archive/Press Association Images Anti-terrorist laws used to jail the top loyalist Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair have been used to charge a suspected republican dissident.The 47-year-old from the Lurgan area of County Armagh will face charges of "directing acts of terrorism' – a relatively unused piece of legislation that put Adair behind bars for several years in the 1990s.The suspect, along with two other men aged 41 and 42, will appear at Lisburn magistrates court on Saturday morning. All three men face charges of conspiracy to murder, conspiracy to cause an explosion, the preparation of terrorist attacks and collecting information of use to terrorism, the Police Service of ... Continue reading →