Man held over knife death

A man was questioned tonight about a fatal stabbing which followed a row in a Belfast bar.

Robert McCartney, 33, from the nationalist Short Strand area of east Belfast died in hospital earlier today of stab wounds.

The married father of two was found unconscious in Cromac Street after a fight broke out in Magennis’s Whiskey Café in nearby May Street.

Another man aged 31, was taken to hospital with a stab wound which is not thought to be life threatening.

As police stepped up their investigation, forensic officers carried searches of the area.

The Albertbridge and Ravenhill roads were closed off for a time.

A police spokeswoman said detectives were keeping on open mind on the killing.

Sinn Féin councillor Joe O’Donnell, who knew the dead man’s family, said it was another tragic example of Northern Ireland’s burgeoning knife culture.