Police have renewed their appeal for information on the 22nd anniversary of the murder of loyalist Stephen Warnock, who was gunned down in front of his young daughter in Newtownards, Co Down, in a brutal attack in 2002.
Warnock, a 35-year-old member of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), was shot multiple times while sitting in his blue BMW at a traffic light on Circular Road on September 13, 2002. His three-year-old daughter, who was in the back seat of the vehicle, escaped injury.
The assailants, a motorcyclist and a pillion passenger, pulled up alongside Warnock’s car and opened fire before speeding off toward Belfast. The motorcycle was later found burned out in the Chelsea Street area of east Belfast.
The murder occurred during a period of intense tension between loyalist paramilitary groups, culminating in the expulsion of west Belfast UDA ‘brigadier’ Johnny Adair. Days after Warnock’s killing, a failed assassination attempt on leading east Belfast UDA figure Jim Gray, in which he survived being shot in the face, was linked to the incident. Gray was later killed in 2005 after being expelled from the UDA.
Detective Chief Inspector Byrne of the PSNI’s Legacy Investigation Branch has described the killing as a “savage and reckless attack on a defenceless man” and urged anyone with information, whether they were in the area at the time or had heard details of the event in the years since, to come forward.
“22 years have passed since this senseless killing, and I ask those who may have knowledge of the event to consider the devastating effect this has had on Stephen’s family. We are exploring several potential motives for the murder, and it is not too late to help us bring closure to those affected,” said DCI Byrne.
Anyone with information related to the murder of Stephen Warnock is encouraged to contact the PSNI’s Legacy Investigation Branch or Crimestoppers anonymously.
