Homes evacuated during security alert

Police and Army bomb experts were tasked to the scene shortly before 8pm.

The Shore Road was closed for several hours between the Doagh Road junction and Hazelbank roundabout while Army Technical Officers examined a suspicious object which had been left near the Catholic church. It was declared “an elaborate hoax” and the security alert ended at around 12.40am on Sunday.

This was the fourth time that St Mary’s Star of the Sea Church has been targeted in recent months. There have also been security alerts at St Mary’s on the Hill Church in Carnmoney and Church of the Sacred Heart in Ballyclare.

Macedon councillor Billy Webb, a parishioner at St Mary’s Star of the Sea, condemned the latest attack as “completely unacceptable” and appealed to anyone with information about those responsible to contact police at Newtownabbey Station on 0845 600 8000.