Man accused of loyalist feud supermarket murder bailed

A MAN charged with the loyalist feud-related murder of a father outside a supermarket has been granted High Court bail.

Joseph Blair (34) is to be released from custody under conditions which include a ban on contacting two others also accused of killing Colin Horner in Bangor, Co Down, last year.

Blair, of Shackelton Walk in Newtownards, was allegedly present in a car which tracked the victim’s movements. Prosecutors claim he was in phone contact with the suspected gunman more than 20 times in the leadup to the shooting.

Mr Horner, originally from Carrickfergus, was shot in front of his three-year-old son at Sainsbury’s car park on May 28.

Police have linked the killing to tensions within the UDA’s South East Antrim brigade.

Blair is among three men charged with Mr Horner’s murder and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life. Mo- bile phone analysis and DNA evidence allegedly links him to a Ford Focus believed to have been used to scout the victim’s movements.

According to the prosecution case he was a passenger in that car, making calls to a suspected gunman in a Ford Mondeo who has yet to be charged. The killers were said to have escaped in the car, later found burnt out between Bangor and Newtownards.

In an alibi provided after his arrest, Blair claimed he was at an address in Newtownards on the day of the murder. His lawyers mounted a fresh application for bail based on delays in the case.

They argued there is uncertainty around a preliminary inquiry hearing planned for May.

With Blair’s co-accused out on bail, Mr Justice Colton ruled that he should be released from custody too. The judge ordered him to have no contact with any other defendants or civilian witnesses.

Imposing a curfew and electronic tagging, he also prohibited Blair from leaving Northern Ireland.