Belfast Murder Victim From Dublin

It has been a violent weekend in the North with two separate deaths being probed as well as a stabbing and a shooting incident also being under investigation.

The death of a 19-year-old man at King Street in Belfast city centre on Saturday morning is now being treated as murder, the police have said.

They said that James Murray - who was living in the Lagmore area of west Belfast, but came from Ballymun in Dublin - was found shortly before 6am on Saturday.

The Glendowan Grove teenager died after falling from a ninth storey apartment.

Weekend Christmas shoppers were surprised to see police vehicles – including custody vans – parked along one of the busiest routes into the city near the King Street/Castle Street junction.

The victim had travelled from his home in Ballymun, Dublin, to live with his father in Belfast and to study at the local technical college.

It is believed that the young man's family was waiting for information from the police and intended to bring his body to his Belfast home first, before transferring it to Dublin for burial.

A 26-year-old man is still being questioned about the death, although a 22-year-old woman also held has now been released unconditionally.

It is thought there had a been a party at the flat and that the victim fell to his death from a balcony into an inner courtyard.

Also last night, two men were arrested by the PSNI after what police have described as the sudden death of a man in Co Tyrone.

They said that the man's body was found at a house in the Tullywiggan area of Cookstown shortly after 11am on Saturday.

While the name of the dead man has not been released - and there are no further details about how he died – the police are continuing to question the two men - both in their 20s - about the death.

The separate stabbing incident saw a man injured in north Belfast's Cliftonville Road, close to the junction with Manor Street, in the early hours of Saturday.

The 31-year-old victim had just left a bar when he was assaulted by two unknown attackers.

He was stabbed three times in the upper back and was treated in hospital for non-life threatening injuries. Police have appealed for witnesses.

Also on Saturday, a man was shot and injured in a gun attack in west Belfast. It happened at a house at Norglen Parade in the Turf Lodge estate.

One of two men in the house at the time was hit in the leg by one shot. He was treated in hospital for the wound which is not thought to be life-threatening.

(BMcC/KMcA)