mcilroy’s murder review

Published:

Northern Ireland police are reopening the unsolved murder of Rory McIlroy’s great uncle.

According to the Daily Mail, the 1972 killing of Joe McIlroy is part of an extensive review of unsolved murders from the ‘troubles’.

The PSNI has confirmed that it is re-investigating the sectarian murder of Rory McIlroy’s great-uncle Joseph, who was murdered for moving into a protestant area of East Belfast.

The 1972 killing – in which Joe was shot through his kitchen door as he fixed a washing machine – is among the hundreds of unsolved murders being re-examined by a PSNI review team.

It is not yet clear whether the team have uncovered any evidence to help track down the UVF team who murdered Mr McIlroy.

This weekend the young star’s family did not comment on the trauma of the investigation into a killing which still haunts the family.

Joseph was murdered on 21 November 1972 – a year that saw the worst death toll of the Troubles – by loyalist gunmen who hid out in his back garden.

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