Murder witnesses reluctant to talk

THE garda leading the Noel Campion murder hunt moved yesterday to reassure witnesses who fear giving information.

As the investigation into the feud murder of the known criminal continued, it emerged a number of eyewitnesses to the shooting are in fear of giving information to gardaí.

A garda source said a number of people who saw the shooting last Thursday have been reluctant to talk about what they saw.

Superintendent John Kerin, who is heading the probe, said they will do their best to allay fears and said all information will be dealt with in the strictest confidence.

“The investigation is progressing steadily and we are receiving cooperation from the public. It is a meticulous and slow process.”

Gardaí are still awaiting forensic tests carried out in the public phone box where the gunman waited and the getaway car which he and an accomplice unsuccessfully tried to set alight.

Extra gardaí have been deployed to patrol certain potential flash-points due to the heightened tensions in the city in the wake of Mr Campion’s murder on April 26.

The gunman suspected of carrying out the murder is a known member of the McCarthy-Dundon gang, while the driver of his getaway car is a close relative of one of the McCarthy-Dundon gang’s members who carried out the murder of rival gang boss Kieran Keane in January 2003.

A nephew of Noel Campion who was found with a loaded handgun hours after his murder was refused bail at Limerick District Court on Wednesday.

Detective Garda David Baynham said John Campion, aged 20, would be used by others to carry out a revenge attack for the murder of his uncle.

There was also the fear that if given bail, Campion would be a target as the eldest male member of the Campion family on the streets.

In the latest shooting incident, a shot was fired into the front of a shop in Moyross early yesterday.

Nobody was injured.