Detectives investigating the murder of a man who was beaten to death at the rear of two bars in Waterside in Derry on Tuesday night were last night continuing to question three people.
Mr Tony McNamee (37) lived at Sevenoaks with his wife Donna and their four children, aged between six and 11. He worked as a kitchen assistant in the bar in Dungiven Road where he was drinking with some people.
His body was found later in the evening in an alley near the bar. Mr McNamee had sustained serious head injuries and died later in Altnagelvin hospital.
About a dozen people were in the bar at the time of the murder and it is understood several of them might have witnessed the attack on the bar's internal monitor which is linked to a security camera on the rear wall of the premises.
Father Oliver Crilly, parish priest of Ardmore in whose community the McNamee family lives, said he was called to Altnagelvin hospital at 7.20 p.m. on Tuesday.
"I stayed with Donna and her family for quite a while before I went to their home later in the night. The family is totally in a state of shock.
"I suppose numbness sets in and nature protects you by making you numb. The thing that I found most anguishing was the thought of four lovely young children who discovered this morning that their father was not coming home," Father Crilly said.
"It is just so horrific when you can put a face to a statistic. There is so much of this happening these days. The next few days will be awful for Donna and for her two daughters and two sons."
Floral tributes were yesterday left at the entrance to the alley where Mr McNamee's body was found.
The two pubs in the area were closed all day as crime scene investigators carried out forensic examinations of both bars and the alley.