NI Policing Board defends PSNI over detention periods

The North's Policing Board has defended the PSNI over its extended detention of three men arrested in connection with the muder of Constable Ronan Kerr.

The 25-year-old police officer died following a car bomb attack in Omagh two weeks ago today.

Earlier, Sinn Féin criticised the PSNI's decision to apply for extensions to question three suspects, saying it was "not acceptable" to hold people for periods beyond human rights best practice.

But Ulster Unionist Basil McCrea, a member of the North's Policing Board, said he has shocked at the Sinn Fein statement.

Mr Mcrea said: "It is absolutely appropriate for the police to ask for an extension. The courts will decide whether that is the right thing to do or not and the courts alone will decide whether that is human rights compliant.

"The most important thing to do at this point is to find the murderers of Ronan Kerr."