PSNI apology after no officers available to respond to death threats

Police have apologised after no officers were available to respond to a call from a man who was being threatened by phone and WhatsApp message.

Andrew McQuillan, the son of a retired senior police officer, told the BBC's Nolan Show a man threatened to kill him on Tuesday evening.

He phoned police but said officers did not arrive until Wednesday morning.

Supt Kelly Moore said she had apologised directly to Mr McQuillan.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) district commander for Lisburn and Castlereagh added that the lack of available officers was due to "the high volume and nature of ongoing incidents at that time" in the area.

She said she understood the distress it had caused Mr McQuillan and confirmed her officers had spoken to him at 09:00 BST on Wednesday.

Police have launched an investigation into the threats and are treating them as a sectarian hate crime.

'I was panicking'

Speaking to the Nolan Show, Mr McQuillan said he received a message when he was at his office from a caller who said he would "chop him up".

Mr McQuillan, whose father Alan McQuillan served as an assistant chief constable of the PSNI, said he then received multiple calls from a withheld number.

When he answered, the caller said that they had a gun and were on their way to kill him.

The caller also made threats against his family and said he would see him in five minutes.

"I was panicking...I feared for my life," Mr McQuillan said.

He criticised the PSNI response and said while he did not expect any special treatment because of his father's former role, he would have expected officers to attend such a call urgently.