A man has appeared in court today charged with a bomb attack in Newry, Co Down.
Ciaran Farrell, whose sister Mairead was one of three IRA members shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar in 1988, stood in the dock of the same magistrates’ court in Newry that he is accused of blowing up.
The 51-year-old, arrested in Dunmurry in greater Belfast on Monday, is charged with the dissident republican car bombing that caused substantial damage to the outside of the court in February.
Mr Farrell, a married father of two from Killeaton Park, Dunmurry, is accused of unlawfully and maliciously planting the car bomb in a manner likely to endanger life or damage property.
A PSNI detective said there was “strong circumstantial” evidence linking him to the bombing.
A lawyer for the Public Prosecution Service said: “This accused is a member of a dissident republican organisation, in particular the police view, and the Crown view concurs, that it is the Real IRA.”
He said that, even if Farrell was not a formal member, he was clearly sympathetic to it.
He told magistrate Bernie Kelly that, if she allowed the accused out on bail, there was a risk to the public. “We feel that he will then associate with dissident republicans and there’s a high risk that he will reoffend and commit similar offences,” he said.
Mr Farrell is married to an American and travels often to the US and the prosecution said that heightened their fear that he could flee.
The lawyer also said he had associated with another person wanted by police in connection with the bombing.
Mr Farrell’s solicitor, Sean Doherty, said he emphatically denied the charges.
“There is no direct tangible evidence that connects the defendant directly to this bomb,” he said. “The thrust really of the prosecution case is based on circumstantial evidence which, of course, the defendant denies.
“Although there is innuendo and suggestion that he is a member of an organisation, that is emphatically denied.”
Mr Farrell was remanded in custody to reappear at the same court via video link on June 23rd.
PA