Police in Belfast are treating as murder the death of a 25-year old man who worked on a British army base. He died in hospital yesterday after being found with serious head injuries in a predominatly loyalist area of the city at the weekend.
Police said the vicious assault took place close to the north Belfast interface and a sectarian motive for the murder of the Protestant worker had not been ruled out.
Police said there was nothing to suggest the motive for the attack was the fact he was employed at the barracks.
One possibility is that he was attacked in the mistaken belief he was a Catholic.
Detective Superintendent Hugo Frew said there had also been considerable activity linked to the loyalist feud in the area and police were investigating both possibilities as a motive for the murder.
"We are keeping an open mind at the moment," he said.
Mr Cupples was found lying in Clifton Park Avenue just after 7am on Sunday morning minutes after being dropped off outside the Mater Hospital in the Crumlin Road.
It was only a short distance from the Girdwood army base where he worked.