Sunak Meets with PSNI Officer John Caldwell and family in Northern Ireland Visit

Dominic McGrath and David Young (PA)

Rishi Sunak has visited the senior PSNI officer shot in Northern Ireland earlier this year.

The Prime Minister, who was in Belfast to meet US President Joe Biden on Wednesday, is understood to have met with Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell and his family at a hospital in the north-west.

The PSNI described it as a “private visit” and as such would not comment on it.

It comes as Mr Biden also referenced his attack in his speech in Ulster University, warning that the “the enemies of peace will not prevail”.

Detective Chief Inspector Caldwell was left with life-changing injuries following a gun attack in Co Tyrone earlier this year.

The New IRA, an armed dissident republican group opposed to the peace process, has been blamed for the attack on the high-profile officer.

Mr Biden, in his speech, praised the response of politicians to the attack, as he said: “Northern Ireland will not go back, pray God.

“The attack was a hard reminder there will always be those who seek to destroy, rather than rebuild.

“But the lesson of the Good Friday Agreement is this: at times when things seem fragile or easily broken, that is when hope and hard work are needed the most.”

The terrorism threat level in the region was recently raised to severe meaning an attack is highly likely, with Mr Biden’s visit coming after disturbances in Londonderry over Easter.

Four suspected pipe bombs were recovered from a cemetery in the north-west city where a republican commemoration was staged on Easter Monday.

There were scenes of violence in the Creggan area of Derry after the event, when a number of missiles, including petrol bombs, were hurled by young people at a police Land Rover monitoring the pre-commemoration parade.