���˿���

An Ulster Unionist assembly member has said there should be a corridor along the Irish border for the police to use during "hot pursuit" chases.

West Tyrone MLA Ross Hussey said such a move would enable the PSNI or Garda to cross the border when chasing suspects.

Mr Hussey was speaking on RTE's <link> <caption>Prime Time</caption> <url href="http://www.rte.ie/player/#!v=1144437" platform="highweb"/> </link> programme.

"Obviously I don't want to see the Garda chasing someone from Dublin to Belfast, but I think a reasonable corridor could be created," he said.

"I don't have a problem in a hot pursuit situation if the guards (gardai) or the PSNI are chasing somebody from Emyvale to Aughnacloy, or Aughnacloy towards Emyvale.

"I think that some form of relationship can be formed between the PSNI and the guards for that."

The programme examined the issue of on-the-run criminals in the Irish Republic, some of whom are believed to have crossed into Northern Ireland before fleeing further afield.

Mr Hussey said: "These type of people are not wanted by society full stop, they are using the border to their own advantage.

"They are not Irish or British or anything of that sort, they're just conmen."

In March, Martin McDermott, 26, from Raphoe in County Donegal was arrested in Londonderry.

He had escaped from an open prison in County Cavan two years into a seven-year sentence for the manslaughter of a Garda officer.

The programme revealed that 660 prisoners are unlawfully at large from jails in the Irish Republic over the last 20 years.