Limavady Shocked At Second Violent Death

Rural Limavady is in shock this week as news of a second brutal killing - in the same location, and within just a few months of each other – sinks in.

Today, a 30-year-old man remains in police custody following the latest – apparently unrelated – murder, this time of a local teenager.

The suspect is believed to be the boyfriend of the 17-year old victim, Wendy McAteer, whose battered body was found on Wednesday at a local path, yards from the high school she attended until last year.

It is a narrow walkway used by many people in Limavady, and runs between two schools, St Mary's and the High School.

Ironically, on July 6 this year, Michael McGinnis (37), a former teacher from Shanreagh Park in the town, was found dead at the bottom of steps on the same path.

A man was later charged with his murder, which seems to be unrelated to the latest tragedy by anything other than the location.

Detectives investigating Wendy's murder believe she was drinking in a bar the Co Londonderry town prior to her death.

Detective Chief Inspector David McConville confirmed that Wendy had been found fully clothed, adding there was no indication of a sexual or sectarian motive.

The senior officer said: "She had sustained head injuries, and was already dead by the time the ambulance arrived.

"One person is in custody and we are seeking help from the public to try to ascertain her movements.

"We know she went into Clarke's Bar on Irish Green Street at 2.30pm on Wednesday. She remained there for a number of hours and left that evening, and she was there in the company of another person.

" We want the public to come forward to give us an understanding of her movements and who she was with."

Local priest Fr Michael Collins meanwhile described how he was brought to the scene by a relative of the murdered teenager an hour after the body was discovered.

He said: "I anointed the body and said a few prayers.

"I was also talking to her father at the scene. The family are good, nice people, originally country people, and this has been a devastating thing for them.

"This is a 17-year-old girl who's not long left school and people would be used to seeing her walking along that path in her uniform. Now she is dead, and that has shattered a lot of people."

A second local priest, Fr Edward Gallagher, said the girl's parents, Colm and Eileen, and her brother, Paul, were in a state of "devastation" and "speechless".

"They are trying to come to terms with a horrific event," he said.

Describing Wendy as a "quiet girl", Fr Gallagher said: "What happened, the horror of her violent death, was the antithesis of what she was."

Fr Collins said local people were now demanding security measures be introduced to the Blackburn Path area, which he said is a narrow walkway laneway and has become a magnet for anti-social activity.

"It is getting a reputation as a very dangerous area," he said.

See: Limavady Girl Found Dead Is Named

(BMcC)