Robert McCartney

Status:

Open

Offense Location:

Belfast, Northern Ireland

Summary:

Robert McCartney, a 33-year-old Roman Catholic father of two from Belfast's Short Strand, was beaten and stabbed outside Magennis's bar on May Street on the night of January 30, 2005. He died the following morning from his injuries. Members of the Provisional IRA were responsible, but no one has been convicted despite arrests and a trial in 2008; the case remains unsolved due to witness intimidation and destruction of evidence.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Offense:

On the evening of January 30, 2005, Robert McCartney was involved in an altercation at Magennis's Bar on May Street in Belfast's city centre. The fight began when McCartney was accused of making an insulting gesture or comment to the wife of an IRA member in the social club inside the bar. When McCartney's friend Brendan Devine refused to accept the accusation or apologize, a brawl ensued. McCartney, attempting to defend Devine, was attacked with a broken bottle and then dragged into Verner Street, where he was beaten with metal bars and stabbed. Devine also suffered a knife attack but survived. McCartney's wounds were severe, including the loss of an eye and a large blade wound running from his chest to his stomach. His throat was also cut. McCartney was found unconscious with stab wounds on nearby Cromac Street by a police patrol car and was rushed to the hospital, where he died the following morning on January 31, 2005.

Additional Details:

When Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers arrived at the scene, their efforts to investigate were met with an impromptu riot. Rioting by youths specifically attacking police forced them to pull back from the area, delaying the initial investigation. There have been suggestions the rioting was organized by those involved in the murder to allow a cleanup operation. Clothes worn by the attackers were burned, CCTV tapes from the bar were removed and destroyed, and bar staff were threatened. No ambulance was called, and McCartney and Devine were discovered only because police on routine patrol noticed them. When police launched the murder investigation, they were met with a "wall of silence." Despite an estimated 70 witnesses in the pub, none came forward with information. In conversations with family members, 71 potential witnesses claimed to have been in the pub's toilets at the time of the attacks. On May 5, 2005, Terence Davison and James McCormick were remanded in custody and charged with murdering McCartney and attempting to murder Devine respectively. McCormick is originally from England. They were held in the republican wing of Maghaberry prison. Roughly four months later, the accused were released on bail. In June 2006, the attempted murder charge against McCormick was dropped, leaving only a charge of causing an affray. The trial of Terence Davison started on May 22, 2008, in Belfast Crown Court. Davison was charged with murder and with affray along with James McCormick and Joseph Gerard Emmanuel Fitzpatrick. On June 27, 2008, Davison was found not guilty by Mr Justice Gillen. The acquittals were attributed to insufficient evidence and witness testimony problems, not findings that the attack did not happen. On February 16, 2005, the IRA issued a statement denying involvement in the murder and calling on perpetrators to "take responsibility." On March 8, 2005, the IRA issued an unprecedented statement saying that four people were directly involved in the murder, that the IRA knew their identity, that two were IRA volunteers, and that the IRA had made an offer to McCartney's family to shoot the people directly involved. The IRA later expelled three members. The McCartney family launched an international campaign for justice. In March 2005, McCartney's five sisters (Catherine, Paula, Gemma, Claire, and Donna) and his fiancée Bridgeen Hagans traveled to the United States for St Patrick's Day celebrations, where they met U.S. President George W. Bush, U.S. Senators Hillary Clinton and Edward Kennedy, and other senior politicians. They also met with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in December 2005. The family's campaign received support from the European Parliament and led to significant political consequences for Sinn Féin. In May 2005, Sinn Féin lost its council seat in the Pottinger area covering Short Strand. Sinn Féin suspended twelve party members, and Adams urged witnesses to come forward but stopped short of asking them to contact police directly. The McCartney family, previously Sinn Féin supporters, pledged to never support the party again. However, members of the family and McCartney's former fiancée faced a campaign of intimidation by republicans that forced them to relocate. Paula McCartney, the last sister in the area, left Short Strand on October 26, 2005. One family member was forced to close her business in the city centre. In October 2018, the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland released a report concluding that the PSNI conducted a comprehensive and thorough investigation into the 2005 killing, rejecting allegations that police protected IRA informers. However, no convictions have resulted, and as of 2025, the murder remains unsolved. The primary barriers to prosecution have been witness intimidation and non-cooperation linked to IRA influence, rather than deficiencies in the police investigation itself.

Case Last Updated:

Nov 06, 2026