Detectives return to the scene of Antrim car bomb
15 Jan 2010
Detectives investigating the attempted murder of a police officer in County Antrim on January 8 2010 have returned to the scene to talk to witnesses.
A device exploded underneath the driver’s seat of Constable Peadar Heffron’s car at around 6.30am on the Milltown Road as he travelled to work. He was admitted to an Intensive Care Unit, and has since had to have his right leg amputated.
Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Inspector Glenn Wright, who is with the PSNI’s Serious Crime Branch, said the officer is still gravely ill.
“Peadar remains in a critical condition. I can tell you that he is also suffering from severe blast wounds following the attack. His family are by his bedside 24 hours a day. My thoughts and the thoughts of the wider police family are with them.
“We have returned in an effort to speak to members of the local community and ask them if they saw or heard anything suspicious in the area of Milltown Road, Randalstown, between the hours of 6.30pm on Thursday January 7 and 6.30am the following morning, Friday January 8,” said the detective.
“The people responsible for this bomb are cowards. They have no place in our society whatsoever. To target Constable Heffron, who is an experienced PSNI officer well respected by his community, was a barbaric and sickening act. The perpetrators should feel nothing but shame,” he said.
“They used the darkness and the poor weather to conceal their movements, to place a bomb which was intended to kill a police officer. The bomb was a crude device, and had it exploded prematurely, I have no doubt that passers by would have been very seriously hurt, if not killed," said DCI Wright.
The detective also said he is not ruling out a link between this attack, and a similar incident at Kingsdale Park, east Belfast in October 2009, where a policeman's girlfriend's car was targeted. A device exploded however the woman's injuries were not life threatening.
Anyone with information is asked to contact detectives in North Queen Street on 0845 600 8000. Alternatively information can be given anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
