Murphy calls on society to help tackle criminal gangs

No civilised society can tolerate criminal gangs who terrorise their own communities.

This was the message from Secretary of State Paul Murphy who was speaking following the second meeting of the Law and Order Action Group, the ministerial body set up in September to deliver an agreed co-ordinated approach to tackling every aspect of criminality in Northern Ireland.

Referring to the recent crucifixion type attack a man near Lisburn, Mr Murphy said: “The picture of a young man’s hands nailed to pieces of wood was horrifying and sickening.

“It was the embodiment of criminal depravity. The people who did this and those responsible for the recent attack on a man in South Armagh are not defending their communities, they are not protecting their communities: they are poisoning them.

“These attacks have reinforced our determination to do all that we can to combat crime from whatever source and to ensure that nothing hinders the police and the other criminal justice agencies from driving the law and order agenda forward on the ground.”

Mr Murphy said that criminals who ruled by fear could be defeated but that it required a collective will and effort.

He added that everything would be done to safeguard the right of everyone to live in a peaceful and safe environment, however "with that right comes the responsibility for the whole community to respect law and order and actively support those who uphold it”.

(MB)