Chronology Of Events On June 26th, 1996

8.14 a.m. It is more than four hours before the murder

8.14 a.m. It is more than four hours before the murder. A man accused of being one of the two assassins telephones Paul Ward at his house on Walkinstown Road. The call lasts 17 seconds. Fourteen minutes later the man rings the house again. This call lasts 48 seconds. A third call to the house 17 minutes later lasts just nine seconds.

Ward is listening to a radio scanner tuned to pick up Garda communications.

8.56 a.m. Ward's mobile is used to call the gang member. A second call is placed at 9.08 a.m. Both calls last just five seconds each. In his evidence Ward told the court that the calls may have concerned school runs.

11.02 a.m. It is less than two hours before the murder. The gang member calls Ward's mobile for the first time. At 11.48 a.m. a call is made on Ward's mobile to the gang member. This call lasts just nine seconds.

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Noon Veronica Guerin has appeared in Naas District Court on a speeding charge and begins driving back to Dublin.

12.49 p.m. Just six minutes before the murder the gang member phones Ward on his mobile. This call lasts just three seconds.

12.55 p.m. A motorbike pulls alongside Veronica Guerin's car. The pillion passenger takes an implement out of his pocket, smashes the driver's window and places it back in his pocket. Then he shoots her six times as she sits at the traffic lights.

13.06 p.m. Eleven minutes after the murder the gang member phones Ward again. The call is the secondlongest of the day so far, lasting 37 seconds. News of the murder is transmitted on Garda radios throughout the city.

1.30 p.m. The bike-rider and the killer have dumped the bike and the murder weapon in Ward's house in Walkinstown. They are seen by a member of the Garda drugs unit on Aungier Street. At 1.32 p.m. the gang member phones Ward's mobile again for 29 seconds. At 1.40 p.m. the two men meet Charles Bowden in Moore Street to establish an alibi.

The gunman describes the murder as a "good job" according to Bowden.

1.52 p.m. The gang member phones Ward's mobile and the call lasts 44 seconds. Ward phones him back two minutes later and they talk for 16 seconds.

2.32 p.m. Ward's records show another call to the gang member. An hour later the gang member phones him back on his mobile. Ward makes two return calls, the last at 3.51 p.m. They talk almost an hour later for two periods of 20 seconds.

11.00 p.m. The gang members are drinking in the Hole in the Wall pub in Castleknock. Ward is not there. At 11.11 p.m., the gang member telephones Ward's house. This call lasts just six seconds. Ward's mobile records show a return call to the gang member lasting 25 seconds. A minute later the two men appear to have their longest conversation of the day. The call from Ward's mobile to the gang member's mobile takes four minutes and five seconds.

The gang members return to Bowden's house where the party continues.