Murder charge Man who died in West Belfast stabbing named by police as Jim Crossley (38)

A man who died following a stabbing in west Belfast was named by police on Wednesday night as 38-year-old Jim Crossley.

A 31-year-old woman has been charged with murder to appear at Lisburn Magistrates Court via video link on Thursday.

It is thought that at least one of four children who lived in the property were at home when the man was knifed at a house in Dunmurry.

Police received a report that a man had been attacked with a knife at a property in Filbert Drive, off the Stewartstown Road, shortly before midnight on Tuesday.

“Officers attended, along with colleagues from the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service. Sadly, Mr Crossley was pronounced dead a short time later,” a PSNI spokeswoman said.

 

On Wednesday morning, a police Land Rover remained outside the property.

Forensic officers attended the scene the night before, but there was no sign of a major police operation at the house on Wednesday morning.

A single bunch of flowers placed at the gate of the property was the only indication that anything had taken place.

Neighbours say the woman had only recently moved to the cul-de-sac, but is thought to be from nearby Twinbrook.

She had four children, the eldest is around 10 and a baby who’s just a few months old.

Local people said there was never any sign of problems at the home.

One neighbour said in the time the family had lived there, they had never known a man to visit, there had never been any prior disturbances at the property, and no one heard any altercation on Tuesday night.

“The first I knew there was anything wrong was when I looked out the window and noticed police and an ambulance in the street,” they said.

Another resident described upsetting scenes as an officer tried to comfort the woman’s distressed baby.

The neighbour said: “It was a freezing night and there was a policeman just walking up and down the street with the wee baby wrapped in a blanket trying to nurse it. It was awful to watch the poor wee thing being distressed.

“The children are all lovely, really well behaved and always dressed beautifully.

“It’s all just very sad. A terrible tragedy for the wee children, I’ve been upset all morning thinking about them.

“There has never been any bother from the house, as far as I was aware it was just a mother and her four children living there. I’ve never even seen a man visit the house”.

Police have appealed to anyone with information about the incident to contact them on 101 quoting reference number 1950 of 01/03/22.