Teenager questioned over murder

Police are continuing to question a teenager following the murder of a man in Belfast city centre.

Police are continuing to question a teenager following the murder of a man in Belfast city centre.

Aaron Montgomery (23) from Moira, Co Down, was found on the pavement outside a popular nightclub on Howard Street where he had been enjoying a St Valentine's night out. It is thought he was injured in an incident, just a few metres from City Hall, as he waited for a taxi shortly before 1.30am.

He was taken to hospital where he was declared dead at about 3am.

A postmortem investigation was carried out later yesterday but the results have yet to be made known.

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A 19-year-old was detained by nightclub staff at the scene and was then arrested by investigating police. They are also asking for anyone who attended the club on Thursday or who witnessed any incident outside to contact them.

Detectives, who have been examining the scene, have appealed for anyone with information to contact them.

It is still not known how the dead man lost his life and it is believed that no weapon was used.

He had worked for the past three months for the marketing department of the News Letter newspaper in Portadown, Co Armagh.

Tributes were paid to him yesterday by colleagues and by the paper's editor Darwin Templeton. "As far as I know he was just on a normal night out with some friends and it all came to a tragic climax. It is just the enormity and the sadness of the situation where we have a very esteemed friend and colleague who is there working with you side by side one day and the next day he is gone."

Belfast Lord Mayor Jim Rodgers appealed for an end to street violence, claiming it blackened Belfast's reputation as a top visitor destination. "We are one of the most visited cities in Europe - we are among the top 10, as the Lonely Planet Guide says, a must-see city," he said.

"Each weekend it is virtually impossible to get a bed in any of our hotels and guesthouses, but when people hear news like this they think twice - I would still urge them to come."