Appeals for witnesses to PSNI crash

Police in the North today issued a fresh appeal for witnesses to an horrific crash in which four officers died.

Senior investigating officer Inspector Ian Kennedy said they had already spoken to a number of people who tried unsuccessfully to rescue the young policemen from their blazing 4x4 which crashed in Co. Down at the weekend.

However, he said anyone who had been at the scene and not yet spoken to police, or anyone who may have seen the liveried Shogun was asked to make contact.

The PSNI today issued photographs of the four officers as their grieving families prepared for the first funerals tomorrow.

The men lost their lives when their patrol vehicle lost control and crashed into a wall on a stretch of road between the harbour towns of Warrenpoint and Rostrevor.

They were on their way to help colleagues dealing with a crowd in Rostrevor when they died.

The victims – Declan Greene, Kenny Irvine, Kevin Gorman and James Magee – all came from the wider Mourne area.

Two Catholic, two Protestant, two were full-time officers and two part-time community officers.

Kenny Irvine’s widow Andrea – who recently gave birth to a baby boy – will bury her husband tomorrow on what should have been their fourth wedding anniversary.

The service is being held at the Presbyterian Church in the fishing village of Kilkeel at lunchtime.

Earlier the funeral of James Magee is being held at Dromore Cathedral.

Declan Greene’s funeral will take place in Massforth on Thursday. He lost three members of his family in the Tullymurray Lass fishing tragedy off the Co Down coast six years ago.

At the crash scene, flowers and other tributes laid in memory of the officers continue to build up.