The brother of a woman brutally murdered by her boyfriend has warned people to “avoid” him after police revealed he is unlawfully at large.
Relatives of Nichola Dickson were informed on Friday that her killer, David McCord (54), was missing.
This PSNI this afternoon confirmed that McCord had absconded.
He was in the custody of prison staff at a property in the Crumlin Road area of north Belfast when he disappeared.
Police have warned people not to approach him.
McCord is the second killer to go AWOL in Northern Ireland this week. Dean Michael Woods – who beat a man on the head with a golf club – has been “unlawfully at large” since at least Tuesday.
In McCord’s case, he strangled and stabbed Nichola in the bedroom of her Ballycarry home in Co Antrim in January 2003.
Her devastated mother Linda Brown wrote to McCord in prison asking him to meet her and answer her questions.
But cowardly McCord refused her request, saying he wanted to forget what had happened and serve the rest of his prison sentence in peace.
McCord was sentenced in 2004 to a minimum of 11 years behind bars for the murder of Nichola, who he had met over the internet.
Nichola Dickson was stabbed to death in the bedroom of her Ballycarry home near Whitehead, Co Antrim, in 2003.
He had stabbed her with a kitchen knife and strangled her in her house near Larne on January 7, 2003.
Nichola’s body was found by her mother in a bedroom at the house on Hillhead Road, Ballycarry.
Her brother, Gareth Smyth, told the Belfast Telegraph that on Friday afternoon the family was informed by a probation officer that McCord was on the loose.
He said there is a determination to put McCord through a release scheme but he “repeatedly fails it” and questioned when they are going to “give up”, because he’s “obviously not safe to be out”.
Mr Smyth explained that since his sister was murdered, his mother has refused to go into Belfast in case she bumped into McCord’s family.
However, she had planned to take a trip this weekend along with her grandchildren.
He added: “The fact that he’s out and about somewhere, I know she’s worried, but she would never admit that.”
The family have never met McCord, but Mr Smyth said he is still prepared to meet him, and believes his mother would too.
“I would ask him why he did it,” he explained. “People say there’s no way you could meet him, but I can honestly say that I can sit down at a table in front of him to ask him, why?”
Mr Smyth explained that all these years later “Nichola is always there” in his thoughts and he talks to his children about her.
“Nichola was seven years older than me, she was a really good big sister,” he added.
“I’d be more like my mum, and feel you have to get on with things. But she’s always there and I’m one of these people that tries not to get pulled down, to not be negative and get on with it.”
Mum Linda Brown with a photo of Nichola in the bedroom where she was murdered.
He warned anyone who might encounter McCord to “avoid him”.
The PSNI said: “Police are working to locate 54-year-old David McCord, who is currently unlawfully at large.
“McCord, who is serving a life sentence for murder, was in the custody of prison staff at a property in the Crumlin Road area of north Belfast on Friday 16th August.
“He was last seen on the Castlereagh Road at around 4.30pm, and was wearing a green jacket, black tracksuit bottoms, and was carrying a red carrier bag.
“Police are appealing to anyone who has seen him or who knows of his whereabouts not to approach him, but to contact 101, and quote reference number 607 of 16/08/24.
“Police would also appeal directly to Mr McCord to hand himself in.”
Separately, officials are seeking information on the whereabouts of Dean Michael Woods.
He was convicted in 1997 of the murder of Brian Peden on December 10 1995 at the Ballysally estate outside Coleraine.
Woods, who was aged 18 at the time of the murder, was sentenced to life imprisonment.
He used a golf club to strike Mr Peden (26) on the head.
A judge said Woods not only armed himself with a potentially lethal weapon, “he aimed blows at the victim’s head in a manner calculated to maximise the injury inflicted”.
Woods was serving a sentence at HMP Maghaberry.
He is aged 46, of slim build, 5foot 5 inches, and has brown hair and brown eyes.
Woods also has a heart tattoo on his chest and a “tribal line tattoo” on his upper left arm.
He was said to be on “pre-release testing”.
News Catch Up: Wednesday 14 August