24/10/2006

Former DUP mayor assaults photographer

Former DUP mayor of Coleraine Dessie Stewart is being investigated by police after allegedly assaulting a member of the press outside Antrim Court House earlier today.

Mr Stewart was due to appear in court for sentencing after admitting to six charges of electoral fraud in 2005, when the incident happened.

Mr Stewart had just arrived at the courthouse, when he reportedly punched a Press Association photographer without warning.

Police are investigating the incident and have taken a statement from the photographer and a number of other people who witnessed the attack.

Mr Stewart's electoral fraud case was put back until November 17.

(EF)

Related Northern Ireland News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

23 February 2011
Killer Dentist 'Used Gas To Sedate Lovers'
A high profile murder trial has heard that the accused, Hazel Stewart, feared her former lover - a dentist - gave her too much laughing gas before a sex session on his dentist's chair. Mrs Stewart, 47, is denying murdering her husband, Trevor Buchanan, 32, and her former lover Colin Howell's wife, Leslie, 31, in May 1991.
23 June 2016
Police Officers Disciplined For Failing To Tell Doctor About Woman's Head Injuries
Two police officers have been disciplined after they failed to let their colleagues and a police doctor know that a woman had sustained a head injury, a Police Ombudsman investigation has concluded. The woman died from bleeding to the brain on 24 February 2014, the day after she suffered the injury.
25 October 2017
Convicted Killer Hazel Stewart's Home To Be Sold
A judge has granted an order that convicted double murderer Hazel Stewart hands over her share of the current family home. The property can be linked to fraudulently claimed insurance policies and police pension benefits.
19 September 2016
Concerns Raised Over Tower Block Proposals
The views of residents in the Markets area must be taken into account in relation to the proposed Stewart Street development, Sinn Féin Councillor Deirdre Hargey has said. A proposal has been submitted to develop tower blocks near residential homes, which Councillor Hargey has said are "unsuitable for the area".
20 February 2015
Belfast Street Named For Eminent Scientist
A street in Belfast's Titanic Quarter has been named in honour of one of Northern Ireland's most eminent scientist, John Stewart Bell.