Son-in-law of pensioners killed in frenzied 2017 knife attack warns against PSNI cutbacks

Charles Little, who was the first person on the scene following the attack in Portadown in April 2017 that claimed the lives of his wife’s 83-year-old parents Michael and Marjorie Cawdery, was speaking to the News Letter after the PSNI’s chief constable warned the force will shrink to its lowest ever size due to funding shortfalls.

Simon Byrne said there will be fewer officers, fewer vehicles, postponed building maintenance and a potential delayed response to calls.

“By March there will be 309 fewer police officers and 115 fewer staff, a reduction of nearly 6%,” the police chief said.

“We will then have 6,699 full-time officers. This is 800 officers fewer than the commitment made in the New Decade, New Approach Agreement and the lowest officer numbers since the Police Service of Northern Ireland was formed.”

The announcement has been met with warnings of a possible increase in crime, and Mr Byrne has admitted officers will have less time to spend on ‘low level’ crime.

Mr Little, however, has warned that a decreased focus on low level crime could have a knock-on impact on more serious cases.

"We heard the chief constable say it could impact the lower level crime but that he intended to maintain the service for high level crime,” Mr Little said. “But when does a minor problem suddenly become serious crime? If you look at ‘our’ incident when Michael and Marjorie Cawdery were killed, they were killed on the Friday. On the Monday of that week the perpetrator had gone to the police in a delusional state. At least eight officers were tied up dealing with him during the day. There was a lot of police involvement in that week. Does this [funding announcement] mean that those officers wouldn’t have been available?”He asked: “Are we going to lose that support from police officers in the community who are dealing with these kinds of problems, before they become something more serious? That’s a major blow if we are.”