A man was charged today with the murder of undercover British Army officer Captain Robert Nairac in Northern Ireland more than 30 years ago.
Kevin Crilly (59) from Lower Foughill Road, Jonesborough, Co Armagh, is already facing charges of kidnapping and falsely imprisoning the 29-year-old Grenadier Guardsman near the Irish border in 1977.
The captain, originally from Gloucestershire, was interrogated, tortured and then shot dead by the IRA after being snatched from a pub car park near Jonesborough and driven to a field at Ravensdale, Co Louth. His body has never been found.
Prosecutors laid the murder charge before Mr Crilly as he appeared at Newry Magistrates’ Court for a routine bail hearing on the two lesser counts, with which he was charged last year.
District Judge Austin Kennedy granted Mr Crilly bail; however, he ordered him to remain in custody after Crown lawyers indicated that they may seek to appeal against the decision in the High Court in Belfast.
In the years after Capt Nairac’s disappearance, three men were convicted of his murder, but police have always said they were looking for more suspects.
Mr Crilly was interviewed by detectives in the weeks after the incident but fled to the United States before officers could arrest him on suspicion of murder.
Judge Kennedy was told today that the suspect had remained in the US for almost 30 years.
Investigating officer Detective Sergeant Barry Graham said that, when he returned, he took another name, explaining that Mr Crilly was adopted as a child and had assumed his birth name of Declan Parr.
“The only reason he returned to Northern Ireland was because he was in a long-term relationship in America and that relationship had broken down,” he said.
The officer told the judge that he could connect Mr Crilly with the murder charge and the two other counts of kidnapping and false imprisonment.
Mr Crilly, dressed in a black leather jacket, white check shirt and blue jeans, spoke only to acknowledge that he understood the charges that he was facing.
His defence team objected that the prosecution had given them no prior warning that the murder charge would be put to their client or that they would be objecting to his bail.
Noting that Mr Crilly had complied with all bail requirements since his original arrest 18 months ago and pointing out that, at that point, the defendant was aware that the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) was examining whether there were grounds for charging him with murder, Judge Kennedy rejected the prosecution objection to bail.
PA