Trial starts into 2009 terrorist killing of PSNI officer Constable Stephen Carroll in Craigavon, north Armagh
DNA evidence and a tracking device links two men to the first terrorist murder of a Police Service of Northern Ireland constable, a court has heard.
Two jackets allegedly owned by one of the accused men were found covered in gunshot residue, and an army tracking device secretly attached to the car belonging to the other man charged with shooting dead Constable Stephen Carroll on 9 March 2009 placed the vehicle close to the scene of the murder.
Opening the case against John Paul Wootton and the former Sinn Féin councillor Brendan McConville, the prosecution told Belfast crown court that other evidence would also connect the accused to the murder.
The PSNI officer died in a sniper attack on the car he was sitting in at a private housing estate in Craigavon, north Armagh. The Continuity IRA later admitted responsibility.
Wootton and McConville both deny the charges against them, while Wootton's mother, Sharon, faces a separate charge of perverting the course of justice for allegedly removing a computer.
The police officer died 48 hours after the Real IRA shot dead two army sappers outside a military base in Antrim Town – the three murders marking a new upsurge in dissident republican terrorism. Wootton, 20, and McConville, 40, also deny charges of possessing an AK47 assault rifle.
Carroll, 48, was married with children and came from the Banbridge area of County Down. He had served in the police for more than 24 years, first in the Royal Ulster Constabulary and later in the PSNI.
He had gone to Lismore Manor in Craigavon after a woman called police when her window was broken. The officer was shot through the rear window of his police car when he arrived at the scene.
His widow, Kate, and members of his family attended the opening of the today's trial, which was delayed because of legal arguments over the admissibility of evidence from a tracking/surveillance device.
The Crown claims he was lured to his death. A brick had been thrown through the window of a house, prompting the occupants to call the police.
The prosecuting barrister that DNA found on a brown jacket recovered from the boot of Wootton's Citroen Saxo car indicated it was "habitually worn" by McConville.
The QC said ballistics tests on the jacket detected high levels of gunshot residue, inside and outside the garment. "The jacket may have been wrapped around the gun when it was fired or shortly after," the lawyer suggested.
Noting McConville's failure to acknowledge he owned the coat, the barrister added: "It's McConville's coat – he's given no alternative explanation."
The prosecutor revealed traces associated with the explosive Semtex were detected on the extra-large jacket.
He said a subsequent search of McConville's home found more ballistics particles, with a high level detected on a black coat, of the same size and brand as the one from Wootton's car boot.
A single particle was also recovered from a coffee table in McConville's house, the court heard.
The lawyer said a witness also recalled seeing McConville in the area of the shooting on the night in question.
Turning to Wootton's alleged involvement, the barrister told the court that an army surveillance device had been fitted to the defendant's car in the period prior to the shooting.
He said data obtained from the tracker placed his car about 240 metres from Carroll's silver Skoda police car when he was shot.
The device detected the gold-coloured Saxo driving off 10 minutes after the fatal bullet was fired, the lawyer added.
He said while the information had been downloaded from the tracker, the raw data on the device's hard drive had since been inadvertently deleted.
McConville, from Aldervale, Tullygally, and Wootton and his mother, both from Collingdale, Craigavon, sat impassively in the dock as the trial opened.
Carroll's widow Kate sat yards away in the public gallery.