{"id":549833,"date":"2026-07-14T20:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T20:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/549833\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T20:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T20:56:08","slug":"ballymena-deaths-police-treating-incident-as-double-murder-followed-by-a-sudden-death-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/549833\/","title":{"rendered":"Ballymena deaths: Police treating incident as \u2018double murder followed by a sudden death\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">An eight-year-old girl was among three people who died in Co <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/antrim\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/tags\/antrim\/\">Antrim<\/a> in an incident being investigated as a double murder and sudden death, police have said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Ambulance workers were met with what has been described as a \u201cshocking scene\u201d on Monday morning when they found the three bodies at a house in the Old Cullybackey Road area of Ballymena.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Mid &amp; East Antrim District Commander, Supt William Calderwood, said the three were from the same family, including a 41-year-old man, a 39-year-old woman and an eight-year-old girl.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">The adults are believed to have originally been from Poland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">On Tuesday morning, police tape remained outside the property on the Old Cullybackey Road.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Toys could be seen outside the house and a pair of pink and blue child\u2019s sandals were drying on a washing line.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Flowers have been left at the house by neighbours who are said to be shocked at the tragedy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Calderwood said specialist officers were supporting the families of the dead and police are liaising with the Polish consulate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cWe would ask that the public avoid speculation while we make those who live outside Northern Ireland aware of their deaths,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cWe await the results of postmortem examinations and are keeping an open mind as to what has occurred, however a strong hypothesis is that this was a double murder followed by a sudden death.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cAs such, at this stage we are not looking for anyone else in connection with the deaths.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">He said there will be an increased police presence as a \u201csignificant number of detectives and local policing are dedicated to working on this case night and day\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cWe understand the public interest in this case and will continue to bring updates as our investigation continues,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cThe community has been left in total shock and we are engaging with local representatives as our investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding the deaths proceeds at pace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cI have spoken personally with each of the first responding officers. Early support has been provided and trauma-focused care will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">He appealed to those with information or CCTV or other footage to make contact with police, saying any amount of information, no matter how insignificant it might seem, could prove crucial. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">First Minister and Sinn F\u00e9in vice president Michelle O\u2019Neill said her heart was \u201cbreaking\u201d over the emerging details.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">In a statement, she said it was a \u201chorrific tragedy\u201d, adding: \u201cThe victims and their loved ones are in all our thoughts at this incredibly sad time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cAs a society, we must put our arms around those who are grieving and offer them our full support.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">North Antrim MP and TUV leader Jim Allister said confirmation that an eight-year-old girl was among those who died \u201cadds an extra dimension of horror to what has happened\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cMy heart goes out to the relatives in the Ballymena area and to those in Poland,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cI am also mindful of the schoolfriends of the child and the distress they will suffer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cThe gruesome scene with which the first responders and forensic officers had to deal is a reminder of how hard their job can be. We are grateful for all they do.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cEven as the shock subsides over coming days there will be a lasting effect in the neighbourhood of this awful event.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">Mayor of Mid and East Antrim Thomas Gordon said the \u201cheartbreaking\u201d incident has \u201cshocked the local community and left many people struggling to come to terms with the devastating news\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cI extend my heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of those who have lost their lives,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cMy thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by this tragedy during what will be an unimaginably difficult time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph paywall \">\u201cAs investigations continue, I would urge anyone who may have information that could assist the investigation to contact the police. I would also like to thank the emergency services and all those involved in responding to this tragic incident.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An eight-year-old girl was among three people who died in Co Antrim in an incident being investigated as&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[80306,76352,42,43,21754,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-549833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-antrim","tag-ballymena","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-police-service-of-northern-ireland-psni","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}