Pair found guilty of murdering Stephen Carroll

Brendan McConville (40) of Glenholme Avenue, pictured below, Craigavon and John Paul Wootton (20) of Collindale in Lurgan, murdered the Banbridge police officer in March 2009 in Craigavon.

Constable Carroll was the first PSNI officer to be murdered. He was shot dead while sitting in an unmarked police car during an emergency call-out at Lismore Manor on March 9.

His widow, Kate, was in court to hear the verdict. The trial judge, Lord Justice Girvan, expressed his sympathies to Mrs Carroll, who hugged her son as she heard the judgement.

Earlier in the trial, which lasted two months, Wootton’s mother, Sharon, pleaded guilty to obstructing police officers in the course of their investigations into the murder.