'Threats' aimed at justice scheme

Staff at the Belfast based scheme have been threatened

Three members of staff at a west Belfast restorative justice scheme have received death threats from dissident republicans.

Community Restorative Justice Ireland director (CRJI) Jim Auld said a local media outlet told them of the threat.

He said they were targeted because his staff co-operated with the police.

"Everybody in this community has been up in arms about the level of crime and criminal activity that is occurring within it," he said.

"And yet these people who are saying that they are protectors of the people are threatening us," he said.

He said that the police have been contacted in relation to the threat.

He said CRJI had been involved in 1,500 cases across Northern Ireland last year and called on those behind the threat to withdraw it.

"We have supported the victims of crime to deal with their issues in a variety of ways," he said.

"All we want now is to get on with the work that staff and practitioners have been doing to great effect."