Northern News

• Portadown District Orange Lodge has indicated that it is willing to enter talks with Garvaghy Road residents to discuss the Lodge's wish to again march down the largely nationalist road after their Drumcree church service each July. A message to this effect was sent to the Parades Commission with the proviso that the talks have an independent chairman. For the Residents Association Breandán Mac Cionnaith said some indication of a change of heart had been passed on by the commission but he had heard nothing official and there been no contact from the Orange Order.
• A Strabane family had started to wake their son last Sunday when they were told that he was still alive. Christopher McGonigle (35) was working on a supply ship to oil rigs in the North Sea when he went missing and it was presumed he had fallen overboard. In the early hours of last Saturday, while on night duty, he went for his break but failed to return. The ship was subjected to a number of searches and a full-scale air-sea rescue mission launched. This continued throughout Saturday and Sunday by which time it appeared that the missing man had drowned. That night, however, a crewmember, working out in the ship's gym, heard a noise. A further search resulted in Mr McGonigle being found in a virtually inaccessible roof space. Unconfirmed reports say that he had a broken leg, a back injury and was suffering from hypothermia. He also had a supply of food. No explanation has been put forward as to how he sustained his injuries but Scottish police say "there was no criminal aspect to the incident". Mr McGonigle was airlifted to a hospital in Aberdeen.
• David Morrison (52), from the New Lodge area of Belfast, was given a nine-year jail sentence and banned from driving for life after he pleaded guilty to a number of motoring offences, including causing death and grievous bodily injury by dangerous driving. Morrison failed to stop after he knocked down and killed Anne-Marie Dineen (38) in Andersonstown in February. The dead woman's friend, Veronica Armstrong, was badly injured in the incident and clung to the speeding car as Morrison served from side to side to shake her off.
• Michael Stone, the loyalist killer who is now accused of attempting to murder Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, has come up with a novel explanation for his armed attack on Stormont last month. In an open letter to Northern Secretary Peter Hain he apologies to all those who felt threatened by his artistic endeavours. He describes his attempt to enter the Stormont building as "performance art" inspired by the likes of Pablo Picasso and Éamonn McCann.
• Sinn Féin made news with the decision of Mitchel McLaughlin to abandon his Foyle constituency in favour of South Antrim in the Assembly elections planned for March 7. Without any representation in South Antrim currently, the Sinn Féin strategy is to target Alliance leader David Ford's seat; Martin Meehan came very close to winning this in the last Assembly elections. Other unusual activity was also taking place. Two Sinn Féin candidates were deselected although this has to be confirmed by the party leadership. Davy Hyland and Pat O'Rawe, who are currently MLAs for Newry-Armagh, were told by their local organisation that they will not be sitting this time round. The Irish Times predicts that Ms O'Rawe will be reinstated by HQ but that Mr Hyland will be left out in the cold because of his misgivings about the party's possible support for the PSNI.
• At the High Court in Belfast, bail was refused to David McCartan (35) and his wife Geraldine (34) who are accused of murdering Mr McCartan's mother. A prosecution lawyer claimed that the couple killed Annie McCartan (75) because she would not vacate her Warrenpoint house so the site could be used to develop apartments. The value of the proposed development was put at £2.4m.
• It was reported on Friday that Sinn Féin and the DUP had, over a number of days, been in intensive negotiations with the British Government, in an attempt to agree a timetable for devolving responsibility for justice and policing to the proposed new power-sharing executive. Senior Sinn Féin officials spent Friday reviewing progress and were expected to decide on whether to call a meeting of the party's Ard Comhairle over the weekend, but the review went on into Saturday. Such a meeting will decide if the time is right to convene an ardfheis to seek grass roots approval for a change in party policy, which would see it supporting the PSNI.
• Rhonda Paisley has withdrawn her application for assistance from the Equal Opportunities Commission after receiving an apology from the Democratic Unionist Party. The daughter of DUP leader Rev. Ian Paisley had alleged that she was not considered for the advertised position of policy officer as a result of sex discrimination.
• Property developer Armoy Homes has unveiled plans for a state-of-the-art greyhound track and a 31-bedroom hotel at Stranocum, near Ballymoney, Co. Antrim. The company already owns a popular bar and restaurant on the site chosen for the £12m development.
• Seán Hoey (37), who is charged with carrying out the 1998 Omagh bombing, has failed in his attempt to have the charges against him dropped. In Belfast Crown Court on Thursday Justice Weir ruled that the state of the evidence does not warrant the dropping of the charges.
• James McGuigan (30) and his daughter Lorna (8), from Belfast, were killed in a road accident in Co. Antrim on Friday. In the single vehicle accident the car left the road and crashed into a tree near Crumlin at around 9:00am. Two other daughters, aged four and five, were critically injured.
• Matthew Dagens (15), from Crossgar, Co. Down, died that night at around 9:30pm when he was struck by a car while crossing the Ballydugan Road in Downpatrick.