Police have named the man who was found shot dead on a road in Co Derry last night.
Ciaran Doherty (31) lived with in the Coshowen housing estate in the Bishop Street area of the city with his partner and their two-year-old daughter. The couple were due to get married later this year.
His body was found by a passing motorist at 10.10pm last night at the rear of a Christian retreat centre on the Braehead Road close to the Border with Co Donegal.
It is understood he was shot several times in the head and body and that his hands were tied.
Suspicions are growing that dissident republicans carried out the murder, but no group has yet claimed responsibility.
Tonight deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, who lives in Derry and revealed he knew the murdered man’s family, blamed the dissident republican Real IRA for the killing.
“I am outraged and disgusted at the murder of Ciaran Doherty,” said the senior Sinn Féin representative. “There is a widespread belief in Derry city that he was killed by the self-proclaimed Real IRA and I am calling on the 32 County Sovereignty Movement (aligned to the group) to give us an explanation why another young Derry man has been murdered.”
He added: “I think those people who were responsible for last night’s dirty deed need to come forward and give an explanation to the citizens as to why they are continuing with these stupid and futile acts.”
The scene, some 400 metres off the main Letterkenny road and close to Lough Foyle, was cordoned off today while PSNI forensics teams carried out a detailed examination.
Mr Doherty was a former Republican prisoner with links to the 32 County Sovereignty Committee, the political wing of the Real IRA.
In November 2009 Mr Doherty gave an interview to the Derry Journal newspaper in which he claimed he had been approached by the security service, MI5. According to the paper he was trying to open a cigarette manufacturing company but had been turned down by Revenue and Customs when he was approached by an agent for MI5. "I think the whole thing is a set up in order to try and recruit informers," he told the newspaper.
In January of this year, Mr Doherty again contacted the Derry Journal after his home was searched by the PSNI following the discovery of €500,000 of cannabis in a house in Co Donegal. He told the newspaper that he had no involvement in the drugs find and that the house belonged to a Republican prisoner whom he had met in Portlaoise prison.
Detective Chief Inspector Ian Harrison, who is leading the murder inquiry, said the community must take a stand against criminals. “The people who were responsible for this are criminals, they provide nothing for society, they skulk around in the dark and they are unrepresentative of this town,” he said. “The people need to come forward and get them off their backs.”
He said Mr Doherty left home at about 8pm last night and police were still trying to establish his movements but he may have been intending to go to a shop.
“Ciaran suffered a brutal death, he sustained serious injuries. It was unjustified, it was unwarranted. These people destroyed this family’s life.” He appealed for anybody who saw anything, including any vehicle movements in the area at the time, to contact police. Mr Harrison said Mr Doherty was known to police but this could never excuse his killing.
Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson said this afternoon he was "sickened and disgusted" at the murder. There is no place in our society for people who commit these evil acts.” The Deputy First Minister, Mr McGuinness, described the killing as "cowardly".
Both ministers said they would "stand up" to those groups who remained wedded to violence.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin condemned the killing unreservedly. "The shocking manner in which the remains of the deceased were left on the road side is especially reprehensible," he said in a statement. "There can be no possible justification for this disgusting killing. Those who carry out such acts speak for no one and offer nothing but fear and hatred. I stand with the people of Derry in demanding that these criminal activities cease immediately. Violence or the threat of violence have no place in our democratic society"
Earlier, the SDLP’s Foyle MP Mark Durkan said the people of Derry will be “disgusted and appalled” by the killing, which echoed the so-called “execution” murders carried out by the IRA during the Troubles.
Sinn Féin MLA Martina Anderson said the murder was shocking and disturbing for the whole community. “It is wrong. There is no place for this in our society. We all want the gun to be taken out of our community. We are absolutely disgusted with what happened last night.”
Democratic Unionist MP Gregory Campbell said the killing bore a remarkable similarity to murders by the Provisional IRA during the Troubles. "In fact, the PIRA murdered two Protestant civilians in the early days of their violence and used this area to dump those bodies," he said.
Eamonn McCann, of the People Before Profit political group, said the shooting was "not just wrong in terms of political morality but is a distraction from, and an obstacle to, any real remedy for our ills".
Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, the Rev Ken Good, said there was a "clear sense of revulsion" across the city. “One of the signs that a community has moved beyond such murderous acts as this is a willingness to ensure that those responsible for such a crime cannot remain hidden but must be brought to justice," he said.
Alliance Party chief whip Kieran McCarthy said it was a "callous, sickening murder which has sinister echoes of our brutal past". He said people were appalled by such acts, which only strengthen people’s resolve to beat terrorism.
Although the killing was being blamed on dissident republicans, the leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) party, Jim Allister, said Sinn Féin condemnations of the murder rang hollow given the history of IRA violence. “It reminds us all of the gross hypocrisy of Sinn Féin in condemning this murder but still justifying and protecting the killers in identical murders down through the years,” he said.
Earlier yesterday, the PSNI had appealed for information after a 29-year-old man was shot in the legs in Derry on Tuesday night. The man was found behind the Creggan shops just before 7pm. He was brought to hospital where his injuries were understood not to be life-threatening.