Derry police apologise for marriage blunder

Chief admits officers got it wrong when they arrested Neil McIlwee and Yanan Sun at their wedding ceremony A newlywed in Northern Ireland has rejected a police apology after officers disrupted his wedding ceremony to his pregnant partner, wrongly believing it was a sham marriage. Neil McIlwee and his Chinese fiancee, Yanan Sun, were about to get married at Derry Guildhall on Tuesday when police entered the building and arrested them. Later, it turned out that McIlwee’s wife-to-be was four months pregnant and the couple were very much in love. Jon Burrows, the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s chief inspector in Derry, admitted his officers got it wrong but said they were acting in good faith. McIlwee, who is from Castlederg, said the apology would not make up for the distress caused. “It just doesn’t add up – something on that scale based on an anonymous letter and some paperwork faxed through about two hours before the wedding. It just doesn’t happen like that. So there’s a lot of questions that need answered and there’s a lot of people responsible for this mess-up.” Asked about the PSNI saying sorry, McIlwee said: “An apology? It’s just no good – apologies won’t give us our day back. It won’t make everything better.” After the PSNI realised their mistake and released the couple, they were married the next day. The police operation came 48 hours after a local Sunday tabloid newspaper ran a series of reports about sham marriages, involving local people and foreigners across Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland Police Henry McDonald guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 22, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.