Police arrest thrid suspect over north Belfast murder of drug dealer Kevin Kearney

DETECTIVES have arrested a third man over the investigation into the murder of north Belfast drug dealer Kevin Kearney.

The 44-year-old was arrested on Wednesday by officers from the PSNI’s Serious Crime Branch.

He is currently in custody at the serious crime suite in Antrim being quizzed.

Two other men arrested – one aged 39 and the other 45 – have since been released without unconditionally.

Mr Kearney, 46, was found dead in a lake in Alexandra Park, off the Antrim Road, last Wednesday.

He had been shot after being attacked.

Shadowy dissident republican group calling itself the ‘New IRA’ said “executed” Mr Kearney following “complaints from the local community”.

On Tuesday, Mr Kearney’s brother, Martin, said the family had been “torn apart” by the murder.

Kevin Kearney was shot dead last Tuesday morning around 9.15 am while out walking his dogs in Alexandra Park off the Antrim Road in north Belfast.

His dogs returned to his Dunmore Park home later that evening when the alarm was raised.

The remains of Mr Kearney were found the following day in a lake at Alexandra Park by a police search team.

Martin Kearney said: “For all the faults of the British justice system, it’s a better system than to have someone step out of a bush and execute you, take your life,” he said.

On Tuesday, as part of the police reconstruction, an actor walked the short distance from Kevin Kearney’s home to Alexandra Park where the father of four was murdered.

The actor was accompanied by the dead man’s two dogs, who were with him when he was killed.

It has emerged that the family became concerned when the dogs returned home alone later in the day.

Martin Kearney described his brother as a “family man”.

“He lived for his children. He spent almost every hour with his children. It has torn the family apart. It has been a very emotional week. We’re just devastated,” he said.

He has appealed for any members of the nationalist and republican community who have any information to come forward.

“If they can’t talk to the police about it, talk to Sinn Féin about it and have these evil people brought before the courts,” he said.

“This has destroyed our whole family. It has left four children without a father. They’re just demons.”