THE POLICE officer targeted in a car bomb attack last week in Co Antrim has had his right leg amputated, the Police Service of Northern Ireland has confirmed.
Peadar Heffron (33) remains in a critical but stable condition in Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital. He was seriously injured last Friday when a device exploded under his car as he left his Randalstown home for duty at Woodbourne station in west Belfast.
The Irish language specialist and Gaelic footballer was targeted by dissident republicans because he was a Catholic and a high-profile officer in language and sporting circles, the PSNI believes.
Chief Constable Matt Baggott said: “He is a modern-day hero, he is someone who has stepped out, someone who is doing the right things for everybody.”
There has been no claim of responsibility for the bombing and no single dissident group has been singled out by the police.
Mr Baggott told UTV: “What a fantastic officer he is and what a great man of courage, a man who is doing all the right things in the community, saving people’s lives and helping people day in day out.
“I want to pay him that tribute as he lies seriously injured in hospital as a result of this abhorrent attack.”
He expressed confidence that other Catholics would not be deterred from applying for careers in the PSNI following the attack.
“If that means becoming involved with the Gaelic Athletic Association, helping people to have a conversation with us using the Irish language, respecting people in every walk of life and every community – then that’s exactly what the police service and police officers should be about,” he said.