Youth charged with Armagh murder
Published Date: 24 March 2009
A 17-YEAR-OLD was last night charged with the murder of Constable Stephen Carroll in County Armagh.
He has also been charged with membership of a proscribed organisation, the dissident republican Continuity IRA, posse ADVERTISEMENT
PC Carroll, 45, of Banbridge, Co Down, was shot dead in Craigavon last month while answering a call from a woman who had a brick thrown through her window.
Four other people remain in custody and are being questioned about the murder, as are four people arrested over the murder of two soldiers in Antrim 48 hours before the policeman died.
Last night, two men, aged 27 and 31, who had been questioned for a week about the murder of PC Carroll were released without charge.
Monica McWilliams, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commissioner, last night condemned the continued detention without charge of the remaining eight suspects.
She said: "The issue should be to charge people or to release them now after this length of time. Obviously there are serious issues at stake here, but these individuals would themselves say 'produce the evidence'."
 An aide to an SNP MSP was criticised yesterday over comments he made about the Northern Ireland peace process.
Mark Hirst, who works for Christine Grahame, claimed the process was "deeply flawed". He also argued that continuing conflict in Northern Ireland would be used to "scare" Scots into rejecting independence.
Adam Ingram, a former Northern Ireland minister, said:
"Alex Salmond must immediately dissociate himself from these offensive remarks."
The teenager is due to appear at Lisburn Magistrates Court today, a spokeswoman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland said.He has also been charged with membership of a proscribed organisation, the dissident republican Continuity IRA, possession of a firearm with intent and collecting information likely to be of use to terrorists.PC Carroll, 45, of Banbridge, Co Down, was shot dead in Craigavon last month while answering a call from a woman who had a brick thrown through her window.Four other people remain in custody and are being questioned about the murder, as are four people arrested over the murder of two soldiers in Antrim 48 hours before the policeman died.Last night, two men, aged 27 and 31, who had been questioned for a week about the murder of PC Carroll were released without charge.Monica McWilliams, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commissioner, last night condemned the continued detention without charge of the remaining eight suspects.She said: "The issue should be to charge people or to release them now after this length of time. Obviously there are serious issues at stake here, but these individuals would themselves say 'produce the evidence'." An aide to an SNP MSP was criticised yesterday over comments he made about the Northern Ireland peace process.Mark Hirst, who works for Christine Grahame, claimed the process was "deeply flawed". He also argued that continuing conflict in Northern Ireland would be used to "scare" Scots into rejecting independence.Adam Ingram, a former Northern Ireland minister, said:"Alex Salmond must immediately dissociate himself from these offensive remarks."
The full article contains 288 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
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County Armagh within Northern Ireland. Police in Northern Ireland have charged a 17 year old youth with the murder of police officer Stephen Carroll (48) last month, while four others are still being held. Two others were released earlier on Monday, after being questioned for a week.

The youth is also charged with membership of the Continuity IRA and possession of a firearm, according to a spokeswoman for the police in Belfast. He is to appear in court in Lisburn today. He also faces charges for collecting information of use to terrorists.

Responsibility for the shooting had been claimed on behalf of the North Armagh Battalion of the Continuity IRA in a coded message to Belfast media. The murder was widely condemned by political parties in Northern Ireland, the rest of the UK and Ireland.