16/03/2016 BBC Newsline

Here, on BBC One, it's time for the news where you are.

Police have begun a murder inquiry into the death of prison officer

Adrian Ismay after a post mortem examination found that he died

as a direct result of the injuries sustained

in a dissident republican car bomb attack earlier this month.

Our Home Affairs Correspondent Vincent Kearney reports.

Friends and neighbours have rallied round the family of Adrian Ismay.

When news of the 52-year-old's death was announced yesterday,

the suspicion was that his heart attack was the result of injuries

suffered when a bomb exploded under his van

Today, a postmortem confirmed that was the case.

It's understood the postmortem concluded

that Adrian Ismay's heart attack was caused by a blood clot.

It says that clot was a direct result of injuries sustained

in the bomb explosion here 12 days ago.

the police have now launched a murder inquiry.

One man has already appeared in court

and been charged with attempted murder.

He's expected to be brought back to court within days

for that charge to be changed to murder.

The Director-General of the Prison Service met

shortly after it was confirmed that his death was the result

They are absolutely devastated by what has happened.

I spent time with his wife and one of his daughters.

There are lots of people at the house supporting them -

wider family, friends and neighbours -

but they are beyond shock at what has happened.

Sue McAllister also said claims that a small number of dissident

republicans in Maghaberry had celebrated news of the death

and taunted prison staff by smoking cigars in the exercise yard

of their wing had been substantiated.

I felt very angry, as did many of my colleagues,

angry that people were behaving that way,

but we encounter challenging behaviour by a small number

and we do not do to behaving that way in response.

Adrian Ismay will be buried on Tuesday.

The Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams says it's unacceptable

that he was unable to get into the White House

Mr Adams says he was told there was an issue of 'security'

when he arrived for the event yesterday evening.

It's understood he waited for around 80 minutes before leaving.

They say it was a security issue. It is my experience that Sinn Fein

representatives travelling are subjected to researchers, subjected

to additional scrutiny. I am nearby invitation. I never come to the

United States unless they invited. It is bad manners and it is not a

good way to treat guests. We are not going to sit on the back of the bus.

The Congress members who we met this morning, indeed the people we just

met in the State Department, where prophecies -- or profusely their

apologies for what had occurred. The Congress members were Oakridge, they

understand the role that Sinn Fein has led and we are not expecting any

special treatment but I would like to think out of this negative

episode that some positivity may come, and we may eventually get

these issues involved. Northern Ireland is to get its first

air ambulance service. ?4 million worth of funding

for the initiative was announced in Chancellor George Osborne's

budget this afternoon. As our Health Correspondent

Marie-Louise Connolly reports the service could be up

and running within months. A medical helicopter

like this will be landing While the timing

of the news came as a surprise, what was even more

surprising was that it was the Chancellor making

the announcement. The funding comes from fines imposed

on banks for rigging interest rates The campaign for an air ambulance

has been long and at times fraught. In 2009, a charity was dissolved

after it got into financial difficulties. The issue laid dormant

until last year when the death of Doctor John Heinz, one of the

so-called flying Doctors of road racing, which is back on the agenda.

A motor cycle event in the Republic, weeks before he died, he told the

BBC that a helicopter emergency medical service would be a game

changer in terms of, provision. We know that other companies that have

implemented this system have a bust their outcomes. Drummer deaths have

been reduced by 40%. We are missing that at the moment. The campaign had

received both medical and clinical backing. It must be centrally

located and able to bridge in the shortest possible time where

located and able to bridge in the the accidents occur, which is in the

east of the province. While it was George Osbourne's budget that gave

the air ambulance Project permission to land in Northern Ireland, it will

be up to Simon Hamilton to work out the minor detail, such as location,

staffing and long-term funding. The service could take off very soon, as

have all the money is already available in the 2016 slashed 17

budget. to the Northern Ireland

Executive. Changes to tax thresholds will also

put money in people's pockets. Our business correspondent

Julian O'Neill has more details. Storm at get

allowance is rising to ?11,500 from next year,

allowance is rising to ?11,500 from better off. And despite all the

speculation, fuel duty is frozen. Also the tax on there, spirits and

cider. The man in charge of

the Stormont chequebook also has a little more

to work with. There are pressures that this

223 million will give some element of relief, which I think ministers

in the new Executive will welcome. Income tax thresholds

are changing next year. The amount on which no tax is paid

is increasing and the 40p rate

will kick in higher, at 45,000. 16p is being added

to a pack of 20 cigarettes and one of the budget's

big headlines is a new sugar tax with a slice of the revenue raised

coming back to Stormont. More beneficial for the money to go

somewhere useful and maybe reduce sugary drinks, though most people

will still buy them. It is a good idea and

workable, if it goes back

into the economy, it's a good idea. Our leaders are in the US promoting

local corporation tax. The Chancellor will

announce a new rate by 2020, which makes it easier

for the indicative to pay for. A further ?3.5 million

of savings are required and it is hard to see Stormont

escaping a share of the pain. As one economist put

it, a spoonful of sugar tax Ten years ago, we revealed on BBC

Newsline that more than 300 patients who should have been living

in the community. I've been to meet one of those

who've been resettled Joe McCartney was placed

in Muckamore in County Antrim He's almost 56 and this is the first

time Joe McCartney It's the first time he's

done his own laundry That's because he spent 53 years

living on a ward in Muckamore hospital, sent there

aged just three. and he was there for

all that, 53 years. Special care nursing

is a discipline and an art, All dormitories, I think

there were six in it. He also had some

behavioural problems. His family say their mum

was heartbroken but when she died

when Joe was nine, it was generally

accepted that he stay there. His family say

it was a difficult life as Joe's problems seemed

to get worse as he got older. It was a bit rough,

Joe self-harmed a lot. We would have got

a phone call every few months. Every time we got a phone call

we thought that was it. We thought we would have

been taking him home. Life today, though,

is completely different. Since he moved out of Muckamore,

all of his self-harming has stopped. He shares this house

with three others - a supported housing scheme run

by the local health trust so we don't know

what the motivation was but I suspect it was the best

thing at the time but with hindsight

it looks barbaric. It's not the kind of thing that

would be acceptable nowadays. Joe's brother and sister now get

to visit every day a much closer

family connection. You know, he never

had all that before. he'd no life in Muckamore

compared to what he has now. For the first time,

he has his own room. As we were leaving, Joe made a card

to thank us for coming. His family are relieved to see him

happy and settled. But they, and the professionals

working with him, wonder if his life

would have been different had he not been sent to hospital

all those years ago. Now, with the weather forecast,

here's Cecilia Daly. The dry weather continues. Most

places brightened up eventually but the rest of the sunshine is up

towards the north coast and north-west. We are expecting a

brighter day generally tomorrow, for St Patrick's Day. A lot of the gaps

in the cloud will still intimate. It will still get quite cold,

especially in the north-west, and a mixture of mist and fog and low

cloud to start with on Thursday morning. Again, a bit of a slow

start but it should brighten more quickly compared to today.

Mid-morning onwards we should start to see some hold in the cloud. Some

sunshine appearing. The best to come in the afternoon. A brighter day

generally across many parts of Britain, even some of these North

Sea coasts could see some sunshine tomorrow but it will be chilly in

the east. The Republic also seeing a bit of sunshine eventually but some

of that mist and low cloud could hang around in the Midlands for a

good part of the day. It should be a dry and increasingly bright, if not

sunny, afternoon for the parade in Belfast tomorrow and also it will be

pretty good for both the McRory cup final and the schools cup final

tomorrow afternoon. Test temperatures in the West 11,

possibly 12 degrees. It will be quite a nice afternoon. On Friday,

still dry but a little bit cooler and generally cloudier as well with

some breaks in the cloud, particularly across the west and

south-west. The worst weekend, this settled spell continues. Essentially

drier are quite a lot of cloud, we think, and temperatures drop a

little bit. Have a great evening. Our next BBC Newsline is at six

twenty five in the morning to be at the starting line

of this year's Sport Relief Games.