Five released over blast death

Five people being held over the murder of a construction worker in Derry were today released without charge.

The four men and one woman had been questioned after David Caldwell, 51, died when a booby trap device contained inside a lunchbox exploded at a Territorial Army camp in Limavady Road.

Meanwhile detectives have renewed their appeal about the killing, which security sources have blamed on the Real IRA.

Mr Caldwell’s funeral will take place tomorrow afternoon at Gortnessy Presbyterian Church in Drumahoe on the outskirts of the city.

The killing of the former Ulster Defence Regiment soldier is believed to be the first carried out by dissident republicans since the Real IRA murdered 29 people and two unborn twins in Omagh in 1998.

The father of four’s partner Mavis McFaul has appealed for no retaliation but there have been fears of a loyalist backlash after the Red Hand Defenders, a cover name for the Ulster Defence Association/Ulster Freedom Fighters, threatened a ‘‘military response’’ to the murder.