16/02/2006

Police pursue drugs motive in river murder inquiry

Police believe that the man whose body was recovered from the river Lagan on Tuesday may have been murdered because he was a drugs dealer.

The body of father-of-two Ronald Todd, 30, was recovered from the river lagan at Governor's Bridge on Tuesday after workmen spotted the body in the river.

A post mortem revealed that he had received multiple head injuries before being bound and thrown in to the river.

Mr Todd was last seen leaving a pub in Maghaberry Road, outside Lisburn, at around 8pm on December 21. His red Land Rover was found burnt out in Ravarnet near Lisburn the following day.

Detective Superintendent Simon Barraclough said the victim had been brutally murdered.

DS Barraclough said that one of the lines of inquiry being followed by police was that he was murdered because of drug dealing activities.

The body had been in the water for a considerable period of time and would appear to have been carried down river to where it was discovered.

Police believe that it would have taken a number of people to carry the body to the river and have appealed for anyone who saw suspicious activity near the Lagan to contact detectives.

(SP)

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