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Man questioned over two murders and attempted murder

Pacemaker A red Porsche car is covered in a white forensic sheet and surrounded by a white, blue and yellow PSNI Landrover, a green and yellow ambulance vehicle and another emergency response vehicle. A police woman is in the foreground of the image.Pacemaker
A man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering two men, including Jim Donegan, who was shot in his car in west Belfast in 2018

A man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering two men and the attempted murder of another man in Belfast.

The 50-year-old was arrested on suspicion of the attempted murder of a 49-year-old man in west Belfast as he sat inside a taxi in Bell Steel Manor area on 23 February 2025.

He was also arrested on suspicion of murdering 54-year-old Danny McClean and 43-year-old Jim Donegan.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said he was arrested following a search of a house in north Belfast on Tuesday and that he currently remains in police custody.

Police believe two men approached the taxi that the 49-year-old was sitting in on foot before firing a number of shots "in a cold-blooded attack intended to kill".

Mr McClean was shot a number of times on 2 February 2021 as he sat in a driveway of a property on the Cliftonville Road in north Belfast.

Mr Donegan was shot several times on 4 December 2018 as he waited in his car to collect his son from school on the Glen Road in west Belfast.

Det Insp Gina Quinn described all three attacks as "cold, calculated and ruthless".

"All three were carried out in busy, residential areas when any members of the public, including children, could easily have been passing by," Det Insp Quinn added.

"Two of the attacks left families bereft, and all three have left loved ones and communities shaken."

Police have appealed for anyone with information or footage to come forward.