NEWS 7SATURDAY FEBRUARY 16 2008

By Barry McCaffrey

P OLICE were last nightcontinuing to question ateenager in connectionwith the murder of a 23-year-old man in Belfast

city centre yesterday morning.Aaron Montgomery died following

an altercation outside Skye night-club at Howard Street in Belfast citycentre shortly before 1.30am.

Mr Montgomery, who was fromDanesfort in Moira, Co Armagh, isunderstood to have been treated byambulance staff at the scene butlater died in the Royal VictoriaHospital, Belfast.

Police were last night continuingto question a 19-year-old man inconnection with the death, whichthey are treating as murder.

The dead man had worked in themarketing department of The NewsLetter newspaper since November.

Mr Montgomery is understood tohave been on a night out withfriends in Belfast on Thursday nightwhen he was involved in an alterca-tion outside the bar during which hewas knocked to the ground.

The scene around the barremained sealed off yesterday morn-ing with blood stains visible onthe pavement.

Police are understood to be exam-ining footage from CCTV camerasoutside the bar.

A postmortem examination wascarried out on Mr Montgomery’sbody yesterday afternoon.

Expressing condolences to thedead man’s family, a spokesman forSkye said: “It was a Valentine’s for-mal event for students.

“The incident happened after theevent outside the venue.

“Some of the staff are friends witha relation of the victim.

“We would all like to express ourdeepest and most heartfelt sympa-thies to the family.”

Expressing shock at the death ofher colleague, News Letter manag-ing director Jean Long said:

“Although Aaron had only been withus for a relatively short period oftime he was a very popular and val-ued colleague.

“He will be sorely missed by us alland our sympathies are with hisfamily at this sad time.”

It is the second tragedy linked tothe city centre nightclub in recentyears.

In November 2006 mother-of-oneGrace Moore was killed after a nightout with friends at Skye.

The 38-year-old was last seen leav-ing the club with friends and drivingaway in a car. Her body was laterfound at her flat on the Suffolkestate in west Belfast.

A 23-year-old man has beencharged with Ms Moore’s murder.

Detectives at Musgrave Streetpolice station want to hear fromanyone who had been in the HowardStreet area in the early hours ofFriday morning.

They also want to hear from any-one who visited Skye on Thursdaynight and who may have informa-tion that could assist their inquiry.

Detectives investigating the killingcan be contacted at the incidentroom on 028 9070 0317 or onCrimestoppers on 0800 555111.

By Rebecca Black

ADISNEY production hasbrought traffic chaos toeast Belfast during its

three-day run.Many eager children and

their parents with tickets forHigh School Musical on Icewere left sitting in trafficinstead of being entertainedby the colourful production.

The management at Belfast’sOdyssey have apologised tocustomers after many, somewho had come from as far asDublin, missed out.

The Odyssey said that carparking and traffic manage-ment were coping with the20,000 expected customers asbest as they could.

They put the heavy usagedown to a very busy Pavilionwith a mid-term promotion at

W5 as well as the Disney Showattracting parents with theirchildren to the venue.

However, parents said moreshould have been done.

The Disney On Ice version ofthe top-rated TV show hassold out its three nights in theOdyssey.

Wonderland, the promotersof the High School Musical onIce show, said they could notunderstand what had causedthe chaos but added they arenot responsible for car parksat the Odyssey or traffic man-agement.

In a statement, a spokesmansaid: “Approximately 5,000people attended each showtoday and given that thecapacity of the venue for largeconcerts is 10,000 we are at aloss to explaining why therewas such a problem.”

A NUMBER of major grocerychains have withdrawn fishproducts from their shelvesafter it emerged they mayhave been contaminatedwith white spirit.Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and

Morrisons have recallednearly 50 products.The fish is thought to havebeen tainted with diesel,giving it an unpleasant taste,but there is not to believedto be a health risk.

THE Alliance Party hasadded its voice to across-boarder coalition

of parties calling for RTE tocontinue broadcasting onmedium wave in NorthernIreland.RTE have said they intendto drop their MW servicenext month but willimprove their FM receptionin the north, which itadmits is patchy.Thousands of Radio 1listeners in the north fearthey will be left with noservice or inadequatereception from March 24.Politicians from both sidesof the border have alreadyexpressed concern at themove and the issue hasbeen debated in bothStormont and the Dail.Strangford MLA KieranMcCarthy praised The IrishNews for raising the issue.He called on the RTE tomaintain its medium waveradio broadcast fornorthern listeners.“People here need RTE tokeep their medium waveservice or else they will beleft with poorer receptionor may lose out on theirRadio 1 broadcastsaltogether,” he said.

Man questioned about murder■ SCENE: TheSkye Bar inHoward Street,Belfast, whereAaronMontogomery,inset, wasmurdered earlyyesterdaymorning

MAIN PICTURE:Seamus

Loughran

“He was a very popularand valued colleague”

Newsletter MD Jean Long

Allianceconcern atRTE move

Kids miss ice showdue to traffic chaos

Items withdrawn

➢ Editorial ➢ P10