PSNI believe murder victim was mistaken for Catholic

Detectives in the North are working on the theory that a Protestant man murdered in a loyalist area was mistaken for a Catholic.

A post-mortem examination has yet to be carried out but the police say the dead man was probably hit with an object.

David Couples, a single man aged 25, was found unconscious close to a notorious sectarian interface in north Belfast at the weekend and has since died.

Such was the severity of his injuries that the police believe an object had been used to strike him.

He was walking towards his place of work - Girdwood British Army barracks - close to one of north Belfast's most dangerous interfaces between Catholic and Protestant housing where dozens of people have been murdered over the years.

Dep Supt Hugo Frew says the victim was well respected and liked by his colleagues and had been an inoffensive man.

The police say there is nothing to suggest he was murdered because he worked for the British Army. One theory they are following is that he was killed by loyalists in mistake for a Catholic.