Fifteen people, including five loyalist bandsmen and three women, were being held for questioning last night about the murder of an off-duty policeman who was kicked to death by a mob outside a pub in Northern Ireland.

Senior RUC officers have vowed to track down those who jumped and stamped on Constable Gregory Taylor's head in Ballymoney, County Antrim.

His death came after bar customers abused him over the police ban on loyal order parades through the neighbouring Catholic village of Dunloy.

Sub-divisional commander, Superintendent Ken Graham said the officer had been the victim of an evil and barbaric beating, kicked without mercy as he lay on the ground.

He said: ''Dunloy is immaterial. There was simply no excuse for what happened in a civilised, Christian society.''

Police are holding an internal inquiry after it was disclosed no officers were immediately available to help Constable Taylor who feared for his safety before he was grabbed outside the bar where he had been drinking with another off-duty colleague and a friend.

The nearest patrol car was in the village of Cloughmills, several miles away.

Constable Taylor, a father of three, will be buried today after a church service in Ballymoney, where he had been stationed for nearly 20 years. He was a communications officer.

q Multi-party talks resume in Belfast today as the Government considers whether to sever contacts with Sinn Fein.

Ministers are reassessing whether the recently launched talks between senior civil servants and a Sinn Fein delegation led by chief negotiator Martin McGuinness can continue after the IRA planted a 1000lb bomb in Belfast at the weekend.

Short walk to strife.................11