Youths blamed over man’s death

NEIGHBOURS yesterday blamed drunken youths for killing a pensioner who had left his home to remonstrate with them.

Owen Murphy, 73, was found dead with a gash in the back of his head in an alleyway behind his home in Fort Street in the Springfield area of West Belfast.

Police were treating the death as suspicious but said they could not confirm what happened until a post mortem examination was carried out. One neighbour, who did not want to be named, said people living in the street were ‘tortured’ by young children and teenagers drinking and throwing bottles over their walls.

“I have been out a number of times with Mr Murphy to them and have had abuse thrown at me. We have been trying to get gates put across the alleyway to stop them coming in,” said the neighbour.

At the time that Mr Murphy was found around 10pm yesterday his back door was lying open and there was a light on in the kitchen. Local people believe he sustained his injury when he went out to challenge the drinkers.

The neighbour added: “Hopefully we will get gates on now, it’s a bit late now that somebody has lost his life.”

The detective leading the investigation said it was too early to say it was a murder inquiry. Detective Chief Inspector George Hamilton said he did not want to disclose details of Mr Murphy’s injuries at the moment.

“Obviously the circumstances in which the man was found give us cause for concern but we are stopping short of saying this is a murder investigation.”

Mr Hamilton said officers wanted to speak to three teenagers who were kicking a football at the junction of Ford Street and Springfield Avenue on Thursday night.

“We want to speak to them for no other reason than to eliminate them from our inquiry.”

He added: “It is traumatic for any family to lose a loved one. The family are working with us and they are assisting the investigation as much as possible.”