LAST UPDATE | 9 Oct

A MAN IN his 20s has been arrested in Dublin on suspicion of the murder of 22-year-old Mary Ward, who was found dead in her home in Belfast.

Mary Ward was found dead by PSNI officers at her home on Melrose Street, Belfast on Tuesday 1 October. 

However, it’s believed that Mary was last seen alive on Wednesday, 25 September and throughout that day, she was in seen in Dungannon, Grand Central Bus Station and Melrose Street, Belfast. 

Mary is the fourth woman to be murdered in Northern Ireland in just six weeks.

Garda detectives attached to the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, assisted by DMR resources, today arrested a man in his 20s on suspicion of her murder.

He is detained at a Garda Station in Dublin, and Gardai have commenced a murder investigation.

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Davy Beck said the investigation is progressing at pace, and that the PSNI is still working to establish the exact circumstances of Mary’s death.

He also outlined how the PSNI had a number of interactions with Mary in the weeks before her murder.

On 4 September, exactly three weeks before she was killed, police received a call from Mary. They responded to that call within minutes.

Beck said police spoke with Mary and recorded an interaction with her.

“On the basis of that interaction, we followed that up with an arrest of a suspect. That suspect was taken into custody and was interviewed in respect of those issues,” Beck said.

Police also had another phone call from Mary on 10 September. Officers then called in an attempt to speak with Mary on 24 September, and they spoke to her again on the phone on the day she was killed, 25 September.

When officers found Mary Ward’s body at her Melrose Street home in Belfast on 4 October, they had visited the property about an unrelated issue to the assault she reported at the start of September. 

The PSNI has referred the case to the Office of the Police Ombudsman following a review of its previous engagement with Mary in the weeks before her death.

A PSNI spokesperson said: “Whilst at this time there is no suggestion of individual criminality or misconduct, we are nonetheless concerned about our organisational response.”

Beck said that the force is concerned about its organisational response, its risk assessment and the decisions that were made after the initial call by Mary on 4 September.

At a press conference this afternoon, he rejected the suggestion that police are not taking the issue of violence against women and girls seriously enough.

“I don’t accept that,” he told reporters.

“I see evidence every day of my officers and staff taking these issues very, very seriously. I see evidence every day of us responding to the needs of victims right across Northern Ireland, and that will continue, but clearly where there are issues that may have been a concern to us, and indeed the community and the public, it’s right and proper that we make that referral (to the ombudsman) and have those examined independently of us to make that assessment.”

He added: “I’m appalled that, again, violence against women and girls continues. Clearly, we want to protect people. We’re here to protect people, and we’re committed to doing everything we can to protect people that face these types of challenges and issues.”

Beck also said that “too many women are losing their lives at the hands of men” in Northern Ireland.

“We are absolutely determined that we will be relentless in our pursuit of the perpetrators and cannot allow another woman to die as a result of violence at the hands of men,” he added.

Contains reporting from Press Association and Stephen McDermott.