Pub bouncer to be charged with McCartney murder
Terry Davidson, 49, who worked as door security at Magennis’s bar, will face a murder charge.
He is an uncle of Brendan ‘Jock’ Davidson, a senior Sinn Féin member, who admitted to being in Magennis’s bar when Mr McCartney, 33, was dragged outside before being beaten and stabbed to death in an alleyway.
The man who will be charged with the attempted murder of Mr Devine is Jim McCormick, 36, a prominent member of the Republican movement in the Markets and Short Strand area.
The family of Mr McCartney, who have campaigned on both sides of the Atlantic for justice, last night welcomed the decision by the PSNI to charge the two men, arrested earlier this week in Belfast and Birmingham.
However, insisting that more than 15 people were involved in the murder, Mr McCartney’s sister Catherine said: “We will not be happy until everyone is brought to account for what they did to Robert on that night.”
It is believed the breakthrough in the four-month investigation followed new evidence from a passing motorist who identified a number of people involved in the attacks on January 30.
Both accused are due to appear before a magistrate in Belfast this morning.
The killing of Mr McCartney led to a public and political outcry against the IRA and Sinn Féin.
Shortly after the murder, three members of the IRA allegedly involved in the incidents were expelled from the organisation.
Mr McCartney and Mr Devine had been drinking together in the bar when a row broke out. Mr McCartney was taken outside where he was beaten and stabbed.
Catherine McCartney said last night she was pleased with the breakthrough.
“We hope it will lead to further arrests because there were more than two people involved. We still have a long way to go in terms of a trial and convictions,” she said.
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