Former police officer charged with 1989 murder

A former police inspector was charged tonight with murdering an 80-year-old woman in the North more than two decades ago.

Ken McConnell, 58, who now works as a security guard at the University of Ulster, is accused of strangling Annabella Symington in her South Belfast home on Halloween night in 1989.

He was arrested at the university’s Jordanstown campus outside Belfast on Tuesday.

Ms Symington’s murder was met with a wave of revulsion across the North.

The widow’s body was discovered in her home at Willesden Park in the affluent Stranmillis area by a neighbour.

Part of her cardigan had been stuffed into her mouth and she had cuts and bruises to her head.

There was no sign of forced entry and two used teacups were found in the living room, prompting speculation that she may have known her killer.

It is understood that McConnell, who is from Carrickfergus, left the Royal Ulster Constabulary in the late 1990s.

He had been an inspector based at Musgrave Street station in central Belfast.

He is due to appear in Belfast Magistrates’ Court tomorrow morning.