Man questioned in connection with 1981 murder of policeman

A man was questioned today about the murder of a policeman in the North almost 30 years ago.

Father-of-two Reserve Constable John Proctor, 25, was shot dead by the IRA in the car park of the Mid Ulster Hospital in Magherafelt, Co Derry after visiting his wife who had just given birth to a baby boy.

Police said a 54-year-old man was detained today in Swatragh, south Derry.

Just hours before he was ambushed on September 14, 1981, Constable Proctor had been a pallbearer at the funeral of a UDR soldier friend gunned down by an IRA gunman in a neighbouring village of Maghera two days earlier.