SF name Milne as Molloy replacement

A FORMER chairman of Magherafelt District Council has been selected by Sinn Fein to replace Francie Molloy in the Northern Ireland Assembly following the Mid-Ulster by-election.

By The Newsroom

Published 25th Mar 2013, 14:32 BST

Magherafelt Council chairman Sean McPeake and councillor Ian Milne pictured with Irish President Mary McAleece and her husband Martin, during her visit to Lavey GFC last Saturday morning.

Councillor Ian Milne, from Bellaghy, was co-opted after Mr Molloy became MP for the area earlier this month.

The former prisoner was selected at a party convention but a Sinn Fein spokesman said the decision has to be ratified by Ard Chomhairle (the party executive).

Mr Milne, who was once one of South Derry’s ‘most wanted men’ along with Francis Hughes and Dominic McGlinchey, was released from prison under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, having received a life sentence for the murder of an Ulster Defence Regiment soldier.

He served 14 years before his release in 1992.

Sinn Fein