Police have launched a murder investigation after a man died following what was described as a “horrific” attack in east Belfast. The 45-year-old victim was seriously assaulted on Sunday night, police said.

Detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland‘s serious crime branch launched a murder investigation. The Democratic Unionist party Belfast city councillor George Dorrian tweeted an image of a police cordon near the scene.

Dorrian said the man was well-known and popular, telling the BBC: “It has been barbaric and the level of violence, the level that was used, was a disgrace. “People just could not believe the sort of violence that was used upon this man.” Detectives appealed for anyone with information who was in the area of Cluan Place, Albertbridge Road or Templemore Avenue between 9pm and 10pm on Sunday to make contact.(theguardian)…[+]