PSNI hope for movement in stalled Belfast murder hunt

Detectives frustrated by a wall of silence surrounding a murder in Belfast were today waiting to see if an appeal by Gerry Adams will help them capture the killers.

The Sinn Féin president urged anyone who knew anything about the stabbing of Robert McCartney during a Belfast pub brawl to alert the victim’s family.

Mr Adams spoke out last night amid intensifying pressure on the republican movement over the shocking attack.

Even though no-one has yet been charged with the attack on Mr McCartney, a 33-year-old forklift driver, the identities of his killers are widely known.

His sister Paula, who blames an IRA gang for the January 30 killing, claimed republicans had frightened witnesses into silence.

The family received their first visit from a Sinn Féin representative yesterday when senior party member Gerry Kelly went to their home in the Short Strand district of the city.

Later Mr Adams issued his call for any details to be passed on to the relevant authorities.

But the dead man’s family have been left shocked and dismayed by how they claim republicans have handled the murder.

A top IRA man in the Short Strand district of Belfast, where Mr McCartney lived, was among seven men questioned by detectives about the knifing.

Mr McCartney’s family alleged he ordered the father of two to be killed after a row flared in the city centre Magennis’s bar two weeks ago.

The victim and a friend were beaten by up to 15 men who falsely accused them of making derogatory remarks to women in the pub.

Paula McCartney claimed the bar was forensically cleaned by IRA men who warned witnesses against talking about the attack. CCTV footage was also allegedly seized from the pub.

She added: “It’s a taboo subject, no-one is allowed to speak about it. It’s in the interest of the IRA to get rid of the murderers because they seem to be trying to destroy the organisation.

“Witnesses have told us the gang attacked them with sewer rods and sticks. Obviously knives were produced and we have also been told there was a gun.”