Appeal for information on fifth anniversary of murder of Belfast father of one

By Rebecca Black, PA

A fresh appeal for information has been made on the fifth anniversary of the murder of west Belfast man Joe Reilly.

The father of one died on October 20 2016 after being shot at his home in the Glenwood Court area of Poleglass.

Detective Chief Inspector Ray Phelan said he was shot twice in the chest in the living room of his home while two other people in the house were forced to lie on the kitchen floor and listen.

A fresh appeal for information has been made on the fifth anniversary of the murder of west Belfast man Joe Reillyhttps://t.co/drDsnXHJ8N

— Q Radio News (@qnewsdesk) October 20, 2021

He said while police have received support from the local community, they believe there are people who know exactly who was involved, and urged them to come forward, pointing out the grief the Reilly family are suffering.

“Joe’s family are still living with the grief of knowing Joe’s life was taken in such a callous and cold-blooded way,” he said.

“This is something they will live with for the rest of their lives.

“They deserve to see his killers brought to justice.”

The detective said they believe the two killers fled out of the front door of the house at around 8pm and headed along Glenwood Drive into Laurelbank towards the Bell Steel Road.

“We need to know what happened next: did they get into a car or did they continue on foot along to the Bell Steel Road or cross the Pantridge Road into Colin Mill?” he said.

“We are also interested in establishing how they arrived at Joe’s house: did they walk there or were they dropped off from a vehicle nearby?

“Information from the community has enabled us to identify the type of clothing the killers were wearing – half-zip hooded sports tops and skin tight jogging bottoms. Both had their faces covered and at least one had a Celtic scarf up over his face and was wearing dark rimmed glasses.

“We need to know where these men were before the shooting, where they went afterwards and we also want to speak to anyone who recognises the clothing.

“Please phone detectives on 101, quoting reference 1172 20/10/16 with any information, no matter how insignificant you may think it is, or submit a report online using our non-emergency reporting form via http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/.”