A senior police detective shot by dissident gunmen at a sports centre in Northern Ireland has been released from hospital.

Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell was shot several times on 22 February in Omagh, where he had been coaching a youth football team.

He was putting balls in a car when he was attacked in front of his young son. Police are treating the shooting as attempted murder.

Mr Caldwell was left with life-changing injuries after the shooting, which officers have blamed on the New IRA.

He spent weeks in a critical but stable condition at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry/Londonderry.

But the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said on Thursday he had been discharged “to continue his recovery”.

“We would ask that John and his family are given privacy at this time,” they added in a statement.

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Despite more than a dozen people being arrested in connection with the incident, nobody has been charged over the attack.

The shooting united political leaders in condemnation.

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There were also public rallies to show solidarity with PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne, Mr Caldwell and his family.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visited Mr Caldwell in hospital last week and, speaking during a dinner at Hillsborough Castle on Wednesday night, he said: “We sat together and talked about the society he loves and about his ordeal.

“He told me: ‘We can’t go back’.

“We can’t go back.

“If there is one message from the people of Northern Ireland to the world, it is surely this – we will never go back.”

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