'Fleeing' murder suspect arrested in Dublin after Mary Ward, 22, found dead in her Belfast home
Exclusive - Sources say gardai received intelligence that the man, who was known to Ms Ward, had fled across the border, and began searching for him. He was arrested in Dublin on Wednesday and was being quizzed by detectives.
A man known to Belfast murder victim Mary Ward was arrested by gardai after it’s suspected he fled across the border following her killing. The man (26) who is originally from North Africa and has legal status in the North, is suspected to have fled to the Republic of Ireland after Mary was killed in her home in Belfast last Tuesday.
Sources say gardai received intelligence that the man, who was known to Ms Ward, had fled across the border, and began searching for him. He was arrested in Dublin on Wednesday and was being quizzed by detectives.
Mother of one Mary (22) was found dead in her home last Tuesday, but it is suspected she may have been dead for a week before being discovered. Ms Ward died as a result of a number of of wounds to her neck.
Police initially regarded her death as possible suicide, but announced on Monday that they had launched a murder investigation. Detectives believe she was killed on or around September 25 - and that the suspect fled across the border shortly after.
"I have just had confirmed a few moments ago, that the identified suspect has been arrested in Dublin," Assistant Chief Constable David Beck told a press conference at PSNI headquarters in Belfast.
“There's been significant co-operation with our colleagues in An Garda Síochána which has led to the position where I can confirm he has now been arrested. You'll understand that our investigation is progressing at pace and we are still working to establish the exact circumstances of Mary's death."
Mr Beck outlined the chronology of the PSNI's interactions with Mary Ward prior to her murder. "We received a call from the victim on 4 September, we responded to that call within minutes, we spoke to the victim, and we recorded an interaction with the victim," he said.
"On the basis of that interaction, we followed that up with an arrest of a suspect. That suspect was taken to custody and was interviewed in respect of those issues. What followed is the issue that concerns us in terms of the organisational response and, in essence, that risk assessment and decisions that were made thereafter in respect of how we dealt with that person.
"So that's why we have made that open and transparent referral to the ombudsman (NI Police Ombudsman), and we will await their review of that situation and their considerations in respect of that."
He added: "We had a victim who reported an issue to us. We engaged with that victim on that date and on a number of occasions following that, so we want to ensure we learn from those engagements and our considerations around how we protected that victim."
He also spoke about how Mary had called the PSNI earlier that month. "We dealt with Mary on 4 September," he said.
"We had a phone call from Mary on 10 September. Officers called in an attempt to speak with Mary on 24 September and we spoke to her again on the phone on 25 September.
"Officers attended totally unconnected to that incident, but following up on another unrelated matter on 1 October, and that's when we observed a female crouched over against the upstairs front window of that house and located Mary deceased, unfortunately, within the property.
"We initiated an investigation into the unexplained and suspicious death. That investigation was led by detectives. That was a complex investigation, that involved scene examination, detailed forensics, post-mortem, which got us to the point where we were in a position to confirm that this was a murder on 4 October."
The suspect is being quizzed by detectives connected to the Garda National Bureau of Investigation. Gardaí have said the man arrested is being detained at a garda station in Dublin and that they will continue to work closely with PSNI detectives on the investigation.
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