Candidate under loyalist threat

Upper Bann candidate John O'Dowd

Upper Bann Sinn Féin MLA and Westminster election candidate John O'Dowd has been warned by the PSNI to review his personal security arrangements after they told him that his details had been found in the possession of a loyalist paramilitary who was recently arrested.

O'Dowd said the PSNI told him he was at risk of attack but would not divulge any information. "The PSNI just stood there and refused to answer any of my queries of when or where this person was arrested or which loyalist paramilitary grouping he belonged to. This is a very worrying development given the state of loyalist paramilitarism."

These threats are something Sinn Féin representatives have lived with for many years, said O'Dowd. "I hoped we had moved on. These threats will not stop me from carrying out my constituency work".

O'Dowd will be asking his solicitor to contact the PSNI to ascertain the facts of the threat.