Five held after murder at TA camp

Police have arrested two more people, bringing to five the number of suspects being held in connection with the murder of David Caldwell.

Security forces arrested the two men on Friday, having arrested two men and a woman only hours after Thursday's murder. They were also conducting searches in the Derry and Strabane areas.

Mr Caldwell, a 51-year-old civilian building contractor working at the Caw TA camp in Limavady, was fatally injured after picking up a booby-trapped lunch box at around 7.20am. He died at Altnagelvin Hospital just over an hour later.

The army has said that the camp is not used for security operations and is only lightly guarded. It is mainly used for training purposes by teenage cadets.

Assistant Chief Constable Sam Kincaid believes that dissident republicans were behind the attack, adding that the victim was "a soft target".

Speaking yesterday afternoon, Mr Caldwell's girlfriend, Mavis McFaul, said that she would not rest until the killers had been caught and appealed for there to be no retaliation made by paramilitaries.

She said: "I hope that they're caught and I would like to face the man that done it. I will never rest until I come face to face with his murderer.

"I want no revenge for Davy's death because he wouldn't want it. If they could see the families they leave behind, the heartbroken, they wouldn't do it."

This appeal however went unheeded by loyalists as a man claiming to represent the Red Hand Defenders contacted a Belfast newsroom late last night pledging a "military response" to the murder.

Mr Caldwell had been a member of the UDR but left the regiment in 1985. He leaves behind four children and partner Mavis McFaul.

(GMcG)