Sunday Life has offered a £10,000 reward for information leading
directly to the arrest and conviction of the killers of a 15-year-old
Belfast schoolboy.
The ongoing police investigation has yet to
establish a motive for the knife attack on Thomas Devlin. The schoolboy
was stabbed five times in the back as he walked with friends in north
Belfast last August.
Sunday Life editor Jim Flanagan said the
newspaper’s reward offer had the backing of the boy’s parents and the
police force. “This would not have been done without the approval of
parents and police. We take the view that newspapers are part of the
community and that this is part of our ongoing attempt to give
something back.”
He added: “This was a case that shocked the
whole of Northern Ireland – a 15-year-old boy being knifed to death.
The attitude we took as a newspaper was that a lot of parents, having
read this, would be thinking, there go I by the grace of God. We hope
it will be an incentive to produce results.”
A spokesperson for
the Police Service of Northern Ireland said: “The reward is really a
matter for the family of Thomas Devlin and Sunday Life. This is a still
an ongoing police investigation.”
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