Alleged sex abuse at Muckamore Abbey Hospital more than 25 years ago is being investigated by police and health officials, it has emerged.

Bacteria which causes Legionnaires’ disease have been found in water in the healthcare centre of Magilligan Prison. The tests were made after a terminally ill prisoner tested positive for Legionella Bacterium.

The search is continuing for a high-risk sex offender who is believed to be on the run in the north-west. Neal Daniel Lynch, 29, has been convicted of serious offences in the Irish Republic and is required to let the police know of his whereabouts.

A wonder drug which has the potential to save the lives of hundreds of Ulster breast cancer patients is now being used as standard treatment for the condition, it has emerged.

The suicide of a woman in Maghaberry prison in March 2004 could have been prevented, a jury has found. The coroner’s court heard the prison system failed Roseanne Irvine, 34, who was found hanging in her cell, even though she was on suicide watch.

The chairwoman of the Council of the MS Society of Northern Ireland last night urged trustees to come clean about the reasons behind its suspension.

{mosimage}Josie Byrne, from Downpatrick, said that she and many others were ” frightened” when officials moved into the Resource Centre on Thursday.

“It was like the CIA,” she said.

“Seven or eight men walked in and took over the building.

“The director was escorted off the premises, there were people taking computers. It was very distressing.”

The trustees of the Multiple Sclerosis Society said the decision to suspended the NI council was because of a breakdown in communication between the local council and the governing body.

Mrs Byrne, a former nurse and MS sufferer for 19 years, said, however, that it goes much deeper than that.

A list of concerns over the recently introduced mental health tribunals and the Mental Health Act, 2001, has been sent to health officials at the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Mental Health Commission (MHC).

There has been a big drop in the number of domestic violence incidents reported to police in the north west of Northern Ireland in recent months. The area used to have the highest record of domestic abuse in Northern Ireland.

Muckamore Abbey – the Antrim hospital which treats people with learning difficulties – is at the centre of fresh controversy following revelations that convicted sex offenders are being housed in the vicinity of children and young people.

Northern Ireland Health Minister Paul Goggins, has learned of the benefits achieved from the Fostering Achievement Scheme he launched last year. Young people and carers, who have benefited from the scheme, met with the Minister to tell him of how their lives have improved.