The man arrested in connection with the murder of Mary Ward was tracked down by gardaí after he was recorded on CCTV at a shop in Dublin.
The 26-year-old suspect remains in custody after his arrest on Wednesday for the murder of Ms Ward (22), who died on September 25th but was not discovered for a further six days when police called to her south Belfast home about an unrelated matter.
Sources said the man, who has an address in Belfast, was seen in a Tesco store in the Thomas Street area of Dublin buying credit for a mobile phone in the days after her murder.
Detectives attached to the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation led the surveillance operation.
At a press conference in Belfast on Wednesday, PSNI assistant chief constable Davy Beck said “significant work and co-operation” had taken place with Garda colleagues and that the investigation was progressing “at pace”.
The PSNI is understood to have first contacted An Garda Síochána two days ago following concerns that the suspect may have fled South.
Assistant chief constable Beck confirmed on Wednesday the suspect is the same individual the PSNI arrested three weeks before Ms Ward’s death in relation to an alleged violent assault she had reported.
He was released on police bail and on October 6th, the PSNI referred themselves to the independent police watchdog, the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland, for its handling of that aspect of the case.
Ms Ward is the fourth woman to be murdered in Northern Ireland over the past six weeks.
She was last seen alive on Wednesday, September 25th, when she spent time in Dungannon, Co Tyrone and Grand Central Bus Station in Belfast. She was also seen on Melrose Street, where she lived.
She phoned police on September 4th and reported she had been the victim of an assault. Police responded to that call “within minutes” and spoke with the victim. A suspect was arrested and interviewed.
“What followed is the issue that concerns us in relation to the operational response and in essence, that risk assessment and decisions that were made thereafter in respect of how we handled that person. That’s why we have made that open and transparent referral to the Ombudsman,” assistant chief constable Beck told reporters on Wednesday.
Police received a further call from Ms Ward on September 10th and attempted to call her on September 24th. An officer spoke to her by phone on September 25th.
They forced entry into her house on October 1st when they called about a matter “totally unconnected” to the alleged assault and “observed a female crouched over against the upstairs front window”.
Ms Ward’s funeral service took place in Lambeg, Co Antrim on October 7th. That evening, police issued a public statement that a murder investigation had been ordered.
