Murder of Annie McCartan
15 Jun 2006
Detectives investigating the murder of 75 year old woman Annie McCartan on Thursday 15 June 2006 at her home in Summer Hill, Warrenpoint, are appealing for anyone with information to contact them at the Incident Room in Newry Station on 028 3083 2075 or 0845 600 8000.
Mrs McCartan’s body was found by her two sons at approximately 8.10pm on Thursday evening the 15 June 2006, two days after her 75th birthday.
Appealing for witnesses to come forward the senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Harkness said, “Mrs McCartan was brutally beaten and then repeatedly stabbed in her own home. I have no doubt that the person who carried out this horrendous murder would have been covered extensively with blood. That person had to have left the house. They would have had to go somewhere to get cleaned up. This crime occurred in broad daylight sometime after 3pm. Someone must have seen someone in the area and I am appealing for anyone who saw anyone acting suspiciously or indeed anyone who was in the Summer Hill area to contact us.”
One week after the murder police staged a reconstruction of the last known movements of Annie before she was brutally murdered at her home.
It’s understood that on the day of the murder, Annie got off the bus at the stop at the bottom of Summer Hill Road at around 2.20pm and walked up to her home, stopping to make conversation with the school crossing patrol lady.
At the reconstruction Police also issued a photofit of a male they wish to speak with in relation to the investigation. DCI Harkness believes this male was sited in Summer Hill at around 1.45pm on the day in question and may have information, which could assist the investigation team with their enquiries.”
This male is described as being approximately 6’1”-6'2” tall and of an athletic lean build with very short dirty fair hair swept back at sides, a strong jawline, pale complexion, light coloured oval eyes and thin dirty fair eyebrows, a long narrow nose with a wide mouth and thin lips. He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans and possibly carrying a dark leather-type jacket over his arm.
DCI Harkness said "To date detectives attached to the investigation have made extensive enquiries with people living in the area of Annie's home who may have witnessed her return home or have witnessed her killer in the Summer Hill area either before or after the murder.
Every person living within the area of Annie's home has been interviewed by Detectives as well as any person who may have encountered her as she made her way home from her shopping trip in Newry. Several hundred hours of CCTV footage from the Warrenpoint and Newry areas have been viewed and several searches within the district have been carried out."
Murder posters and leaflets in six different languages have also been distributed throughout Warrenpoint and surrounding areas. The languages include
- Hungarian (PDF, 74.7 KB)
- Latvian (PDF, 128.7 KB)
- Lithuanian (PDF, 109.2 KB)
- Polish (PDF, 107.8 KB)
- Russian (PDF, 112.2 KB)
Police in Newry have thanked the members of the public who have assisted them with their enquiries to date but continue to urge anyone with information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, to contact them at the Incident Room in Newry Station on 02830 832075 or 0845 600 8000 or alternatively members of the public can pass information to police anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
