A 33-YEAR-OLD man has been arrested on suspicion of murder by detectives investigating the killing of Ian Ogle in Belfast. 

The man was arrested at Heathrow Airport in London last night and brought to Northern Ireland.

He is the 14th person to be arrested as part of the murder investigation. The others, 11 men and two women, were all questioned and released. 

Ogle, a 45-year-old community worker and loyalist activist, was killed at Cluan Place in East Belfast on Sunday 27 January.

Speaking after the latest arrest, Detective Chief Inspector Peter McKenna renewed the PSNI’s appeal for witnesses to the “horrific murder”.

“The husband and father-of-two was viciously attacked by a gang of at least five men on the night in question and sadly later died from his horrific injuries.

“His skull was fractured and he was savagely stabbed 11 times in the back before being left to die on the street,” McKenna said. 

Discarded clothing or weapons

Police believe the events leading up to Ogle’s murder began on the Beersbridge Road at around 8.45pm on 27 January, when an altercation took place outside a fast food outlet. The exact circumstances of that incident are still unconfirmed, but police believe Ogle was present.

Shortly before 9.30pm, Ogle’s killers parked a black Seat Leon, registration number JGZ 7406, in Langtry Court, just off Templemore Avenue. They then walked the short distance to Cluan Place.

After the attack, they returned to Templemore Avenue. Police said some of the killers got into the car and others dispersed on foot from Langtry Court, through the houses. The car was driven along Templemore Avenue, into Major Street and onto the lower Newtownards Road, before being left at Pitt Place.

McKenna said police want to hear from anyone who has information. “If you were driving in that area or have any dashcam footage, please contact us. If you have found recently discarded clothing or weapons of any sort, I want to know about that,” he stated. 

Anyone with information has been asked to contact police via the phone number 101, referencing 1303 of 27/1/19, or by calling Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.