News from around the 32 counties of Ireland

Chief Superintendent Stephen Martin is to leave his job as Derry’s police commander in the autumn, the ‘Journal’ can reveal.

The police chief, who controls ‘G’ District which covers the Derry, Strabane and Limavady areas, is understood to be moving to pastures new - as yet undisclosed - to take up a new post.

It’s not known yet who’s in the running to succeed Ch. Supt Martin who took on the role of ‘G’ district commander in June 2009.

The SDLP’s Thomas Conway, who is chairperson of Derry’s District Policing Partnership (DPP), last week paid tribute to Ch. Supt. Martin’s “hard work and professionalism”.

“He always had a welcoming approach to DPP members,” he said. “I am glad we will still benefit from this open door policy as he will remain in post until late autumn and I’m sure that his positive and constructive working manner will continue to serve him well in his future career. I am sure the DPP will want to appropriately mark his contribution to policing in this region later in the year.”
(Source: Derry Journal)

Donegal

20-year-old Derry man died after falling from the second floor of a Donegal hotel on a night out with work colleagues, an inquest has heard.

The inquest into the death of Conor Duddy found that he had a high level of alcohol and some cannabis in his system when he fell from an open window of the Abbey Hotel in Donegal Town on June 20, 2010.

Coroner John Cannon said the reason Conor fell out the window will probably never be known. Mr Duddy died in Letterkenny General Hospital the day after the fall. The accident happened on a night out for staff from the Iceland store in Derry. About 20 staff from the store set off from Derry on a bus as part of a so-called mystery tour.

Mr Duddy’s father Noel told Letterkenny Coroner’s Court that his son - the youngest of three children - was in good form when he gave him a lift to the bus from their Lecky Road home. He said his son had drank two cans of beer in the house and had a bag with him which he later found out contained six bottles of beer. Mr Duddy said his son had suffered occasionally from depression and he had been aware that he had used cannabis. He said his son loved his job and was just a normal person “who had friends and went out just like everyone else”.

Passer-by Grace Harrington said Mr Duddy appeared to be very drunk when he get off a bus close to the hotel supported by two women.

Off-duty nurse Dawn Hannah had just left a nearby bar with a group of friends and family when she saw something fall from the hotel. She said at first she did not think it was a person. She said the man hit a sign on the way down and his head, neck and shoulder hit the ground first. She and a colleague who she was with, ran to carry out first aid on the man who was bleeding from the nose and mouth. An ambulance crew arrived quickly on the scene and he was taken to Letterkenny General Hospital.
(Source: Donegal Democrat)

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