Family claims 'wall of silence' over killing

Witnesses to another killing near a Belfast bar are being protected, the victim’s family claimed today.

Engineer Stephen Montgomery, 34, died after being found with head injuries close to his home in the city’s Ardoyne district.

Like Robert McCartney, the IRA murder victim stabbed to death two weeks earlier, the father of three had just left his local pub.

With his family believing he was deliberately attacked, the dead man’s brother, Sean, 35, said: “We have come up against a wall of silence in certain quarters.

“The people who did this are being hidden by a small number of people in Ardoyne.

“The community have given us great support, but they need to oust the people who killed my brother.

“We believe there were several people involved in the death of my brother.”

Mr Montgomery was found unconscious close to the Jamaica Inn on February 13. He died later in hospital.

Police said at the time they were treating the death as a hit-and-run.

Detectives have questioned a number of people and released them while reports to the Director of Public Prosecutions are being prepared.

Unlike the McCartney sisters, who have taken their campaign against the IRA to the White House, the Montgomery family have refused to blame any other organisation.

Mr Montgomery, who worked for the Montupet car components firm, lived in the Ardoyne with his fiancee, Julie-Ann Hughes, and their two sons, aged six and three.

Both Ms Hughes and the victim’s brother insisted people in the staunchly nationalist neighbourhood know what happened.

“The only similarity with the McCartney case is the wall of silence,” insisted Mr Montgomery.

“For some reason they are hiding these people and just not coming forward.

“Our family and the community are crying out for justice over the death of my brother.”