Murder inquiry launched as UDA attack victim dies after 9 years in coma

THE PSNI have upgraded their investigation into the beating of Derryman Paul McCauley to a murder inquiry after the 38-year-old died on Saturday 6 June after nine years in a coma.

Paul was savagely beaten by a UDA gang in the Waterside area of Derry in July 2006.

The father of one (who was 29 at the time of the assault) and a number of friends were tidying up after a farewell barbecue they attended for a friend who was emigrating when the gang, said to be 15 strong, struck.

The assailants are believed to have attended a loyalist band parade earlier in the day.

At the time, a community activist involved in monitoring Derry's interfaces told An Phoblacht that senior UDA figures from both the Fountain area on Derry's west bank and in the Waterside area were organising sectarian attacks.

The community activist accused the PSNI of taking “no action” against the gang.

The PSNI's initial enquiries proved relatively ineffectual with only one person, 15-year-old Daryl Proctor, ever being charged. He was subsequently sentenced to 12 years in prison when he pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm.

The lack of co-operation from within the unionist community with the investigation saw the inquiry grind to a halt. This, coupled with the half-hearted condemnation from unionist politicians, lead Paul McCauley's father, Jim, to talk about a “wall of silence”.

In 2011, Sinn Féin's Martina Anderson, who was then on the North's Policing Board, pressured the PSNI into taking a fresh look at the case and the files were consequently passed over to C2, the PSNI’s Serious Crime Branch.

Despite this move and 25 arrests, Proctor remains the only person to appear to go before a court.

Paul McCauley's funeral will take place in Derry later in the week after a post-mortem examination is carried out.

His family have requested privacy during the wake and funeral.