Police welcome Thomas Devlin murder convictions
24 Feb 2010
Following the convictions of Gary Ryan Taylor (23) of Mountcollyer Avenue and Nigel James Brown (26) of Whitewell Road, both North Belfast, the detective in charge of the investigation into Thomas Devlin's murder in August 2005, Detective Chief Superintendent Tim Hanley said:
"Police welcome the jury’s verdicts in this case. We welcome them for Thomas, whose life was so brutally taken from him. And we welcome them for his family who have endured the pain and suffering of waking up each day for the past four and a half years without their son and brother.
This was a savage attack on a schoolboy who’d gone out with some friends to buy sweets at a local shop on a summer’s night. It was carried out by two evil individuals who have no regard for the sanctity of human life or the rule of law.
As the head of the police investigation team into Thomas’ murder, I would like to thank all those people in the community, on all sides of the community, for working with police and for standing up and giving evidence.
I would also like to pay tribute to all the police officers and staff who have worked on this case since August 2005. They went the extra mile in terms of effort, commitment, persistence and innovation to build a compelling case.
But our thoughts today are with Thomas and his family. They have borne this trauma with great dignity. Hopefully, today’s verdicts will help to ease their pain."
