Man held over ex-prisoner attack

The attack happened at a house in Ross Street

Police are continuing to question a 20-year-old man about the attempted murder of a former republican prisoner in west Belfast.

Frank McGreevy, 51, is on a life support machine after the assault.

He was attacked and beaten at his home in Ross Street shortly after 1830 GMT on Saturday. He was discovered by his 15-year-old son.

The PSNI have said that the man who is being questioned handed himself in to Grosvenor Road police station.

Sinn Fein councillor Tom Hartley said he had talked to Mr McGreevy's family.

"They're coping with it, but of course they are very shocked."

He said the victim was well-known in the area and the attack had had a big impact on the community.

Mr Hartley is meeting the police on Monday to express "serious concerns at the failure of the PSNI response to those involved in the critical assault".

A neighbour Martin Molloy said the assault shows how bad the area had become recently.

"People are afraid to go out to the shops now at night.

"At four o' clock people are locked up in their houses, anybody could have been targeted."

The Chairman of the Falls Road Residents' Association, Robert McClenaghan, knows the victim well.

He said: "He is a former prisoner who served a life sentence. So he would be very well known.

"For something as brutal as this to happen to him, is a real shock to all of us in the community who knew him over many, many years."

Any witnesses to the incident have been urged to come forward.