Northern Ireland

Appeal for information on 30th anniversary of ‘sickening’ murder of RUC officer

Constable John Haggan was shot in front of his wife and friends at north Belfast greyhound stadium

RUC Constable John Haggan was shot dead in north Belfast on March 19, 1994.
RUC Constable John Haggan was shot dead in north Belfast on March 19, 1994.

Police have appealed for information on the “cold blooded” murder of an RUC officer 30 years after he was shot in front of his pregnant wife in north Belfast.

Constable John Haggan was killed at Dunmore Greyhound Stadium on Alexander Park Avenue on March 10 1994.

The 33-year-old father-of-two from Newtownabbey was with his wife and friends when he was approached by two gunmen in the stadium’s members’ bar at around 9.15pm.

RUC Constable John Haggan.
RUC Constable John Haggan.

He was shot once in the head at close range and again as he lay on the floor.

It is believed the men made off in a gold Seat Ibiza car, with the registration VRM NXI 7341, driven by a third accomplice towards Alexander Park Avenue before turning onto Jellicoe Avenue.

The car had been hijacked shortly before 8pm from Stratford Gardens in the Ardoyne area and was located by police at Chichester Court off the Antrim Road just before 11.30pm.

The murder was linked to the IRA.



A spokesperson for the PSNI’s Legacy Investigation Branch said: “This was a sickening attack on a family man who was out socialising with his wife and friends. Murdered in cold blood for no other reason than being a police officer providing a service to the local community and local people of east Belfast where he had been stationed for 12 years.”

They added: “Anyone with information, no matter how small, can contact detectives in Legacy Investigation Branch on 101 or at LIBEnquiries@psni.pnn.police.uk.”