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27/09/2010
RUC Shooting Arrest As Sacrifice Recalled
Detectives investigating the murder of a policeman in 1981 have made an arrest.
The suspect has been taken to Antrim police station's Serious Crime Suite for questioning.
The move comes just hours after a national commemoration was held in Belfast for all UK police officers to have given their lives.
This morning, a 54-year-old man was arrested and questioned about the murder of RUC Reserve Constable John Proctor almost 30 years ago.
The off-duty part time RUC man was shot in the Mid Ulster hospital car park as he visited his wife and their newborn son.
Mr Proctor, a father-of-two, was 25, and had been an RUC reservist for two years.
The man was detained in Swatragh, Co Londonderry on Monday morning by the PSNI's Serious Crime Branch.
The shock killing was all the more tragic as tragically, Constable Proctor had been a pallbearer at the funeral of a UDR soldier and personal friend gunned down by an IRA gunman in a neighbouring village of Maghera two days earlier.
In Memory
The arrest came just 24-hours after the Stormont Justice Minister David Ford attended the National Police Memorial Service at Belfast's Waterfront Hall.
The national service, in memory of police officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty, was attended by representatives of the 'policing family' from across the UK.
Welcoming the congregation to the service on Sunday David Ford said: "It is an immense privilege to attend this service today and an honour to be the first locally elected Justice Minister to participate in this dignified and sensitive occasion.
"Police officers regularly put their lives on the line serving all sections of the community and we should never take what they do for granted.
"The people of Northern Ireland are served by some of the best police officers in the world, who are working in very difficult, challenging and dangerous circumstances," the Alliance Minister said.
"I want to express my sincere gratitude to all officers who give so much to the community on a daily basis and today, in particular, to the officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
"My thoughts are with the families of those who mourn their loved ones. Society must never be allowed to forget their selfless service."
(BMcC/GK)
The suspect has been taken to Antrim police station's Serious Crime Suite for questioning.
The move comes just hours after a national commemoration was held in Belfast for all UK police officers to have given their lives.
This morning, a 54-year-old man was arrested and questioned about the murder of RUC Reserve Constable John Proctor almost 30 years ago.
The off-duty part time RUC man was shot in the Mid Ulster hospital car park as he visited his wife and their newborn son.
Mr Proctor, a father-of-two, was 25, and had been an RUC reservist for two years.
The man was detained in Swatragh, Co Londonderry on Monday morning by the PSNI's Serious Crime Branch.
The shock killing was all the more tragic as tragically, Constable Proctor had been a pallbearer at the funeral of a UDR soldier and personal friend gunned down by an IRA gunman in a neighbouring village of Maghera two days earlier.
In Memory
The arrest came just 24-hours after the Stormont Justice Minister David Ford attended the National Police Memorial Service at Belfast's Waterfront Hall.
The national service, in memory of police officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty, was attended by representatives of the 'policing family' from across the UK.
Welcoming the congregation to the service on Sunday David Ford said: "It is an immense privilege to attend this service today and an honour to be the first locally elected Justice Minister to participate in this dignified and sensitive occasion.
"Police officers regularly put their lives on the line serving all sections of the community and we should never take what they do for granted.
"The people of Northern Ireland are served by some of the best police officers in the world, who are working in very difficult, challenging and dangerous circumstances," the Alliance Minister said.
"I want to express my sincere gratitude to all officers who give so much to the community on a daily basis and today, in particular, to the officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
"My thoughts are with the families of those who mourn their loved ones. Society must never be allowed to forget their selfless service."
(BMcC/GK)
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