Two Irishmen charged over attempted murder in Australia

Two Irishmen have been charged with attempted murder over the shooting of a real estate agent in Melbourne, Australia.

Mark Dixon (30) and Jack Harvey (26) appeared before Byron Bay local court in New South Wales on Thursday when police successfully applied for permission to extradite the pair to Melbourne, Victoria.

Mr Dixon and Mr Harvey did not apply for bail, and it was formally refused.

The Irishmen are due before Melbourne Magistrates Court on Saturday.

Woman stabbed to death in Clondalkin named as Cathy Ward

---

Alan Hawe would have faced trial for murder, says expert

---

PSNI chief accuses Mary Lou McDonald of ‘poor leadership’

---

Criminal investigation into Assistant Garda Commissioner dropped

---

Police issued warrants for their arrest after Sid Morgan (53), a former detective, was shot in the face outside a house in west Melbourne last week. He was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries and is in a critical condition.

Detectives arrested Mr Dixon and Mr Harvey on Wednesday at Broken Head in New South Wales after a two-day manhunt.

Police had issued a Crimestoppers appeal for information on the men after believing they had fled from Melbourne to Byron Bay.

Photographs and descriptions of both men were issued, and people were urged not to approach them but to call police if they were spotted.

Mr Morgan, a former police detective, made the news in 1997 when he killed his brother-in-law who had been charged with molesting three girls.

Mr Morgan went on trial for murder but was acquitted. However, he was not allowed to rejoin the police despite being acquitted of murder.

He reinvented himself as a real estate agent and told the Sydney Morning Herald he had “worked hard to built a new life”.