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Enda Dolan's family slam PSNI refusal to release driver photo

William Ross Casement, centre, walks out of Belfast Crown Court yesterday. Picture by Hugh Russell
William Ross Casement, centre, walks out of Belfast Crown Court yesterday. Picture by Hugh Russell William Ross Casement, centre, walks out of Belfast Crown Court yesterday. Picture by Hugh Russell

THE father of Enda Dolan has criticised police for refusing to release a photograph of the driver who killed his son.

The 18-year-old from Killyclogher, Co Tyrone died after being hit by a van on Belfast's Malone Road while walking home in October 2014.

The court heard that David Lee Stewart had consumed drink and drugs before getting behind the wheel and he carried the teenager on his roof for about 800 yards.

Stewart will spend three-and-a-half years in prison and the same time on licence after admitting a series of charges linked to the student's death.

No photos are available of the 31-year-old, of Gray's Park Avenue in Belfast, who has been in custody since revoking his own bail while on remand.

His passenger in the car, William Ross Casement (21), of Belvoir Drive in Belfast, walked free yesterday after being sentenced to 50 hours community service and two years on probation.

Enda's father Peter Dolan last night criticised the decision not to release photos of the two men taken in custody.

He pointed out that "there are no pictures of the defendant, but there are pictures of myself and my family" in the media.

"Their photos should be all over the press given what they have done," he said.

"Yet again the whole system favours the defendants and that just saddens us."

The PSNI did not respond to requests for a comment to explain the reason for not releasing custody pictures of Stewart.

It is not the first time the PSNI has faced criticism over photographs of criminals.

In 2013 police refused to publish images of three men involved in a major crime gang caught importing £1.2m of drugs to the north after saying they were "not the main players".

A year earlier rape crisis workers branded a public appeal for help finding a west Belfast rapist pointless after the PSNI initially said there was "no operational need" to release a photograph or description.