Spaniard Remanded Over PSNI Muder Bid

A foreign national has appeared in court charged with the attempted murder of a police woman during trouble in north Belfast.

Roger Jorro Costa, 28, who is originally from Barcelona in Spain, but has an address at Ulsterville Avenue in Belfast, is accused of trying to kill the officer during rioting in Ardoyne in mid July.

Mr Costa was remanded in custody after a detective sergeant told Belfast Magistrates Court he believed he could connect the accused to the charge.

Several days of rioting in July left a female PSNI officer badly hurt when she had a concrete block dropped on her head from the top of a building.

It happened as trouble flared in the Ardoyne area following the traditional Twelfth Orange Order march with hundreds of protestors rioting and attacking the police - with many found to have travelled to the area specifically to take part - although this is the first accused to have been a foreigner.

The NI Policing Board member Jonathan Bell MLA has welcomed the news and congratulated the police for their work so far in apprehending and making amenable to the courts so many who were involved in rioting.

The Strangford MLA said: "The rioting was a nauseating throwback to the futility of past violence. The sinister aim of those organising the rioting was to stall the progress of our society.

"They singularly failed, and I understand the police have had excellent assistance from right across the community in investigating and apprehending the criminals responsible," he said, noting that, whilst the police were challenged by this rioting, they collected detailed audio visual evidence that can now be used to gain prosecutions.

"The significant numbers now charged and being processed by the courts stands as testimony to the success and expertise of our police."

(BMcC/KMcA)