Double murder accused fled after luring victims to death, court told

A MAN allegedly involved in a double killing in Belfast 12 years ago immediately crossed the border to start a new life in the Irish Republic, the High Court has heard.

Gerard Lagan (35) is charged with the murders of Edward Burns and Joe Jones, whose bodies were discovered hours apart on March 12, 2007.

Burns (36) was found shot in the head at Bog Meadows, close to the Falls Road in west Belfast. Jones (38) was discovered battered to death a short time later in an alleyway in Ardoyne.

Lagan, of Butler Walk in Belfast, faces prosecution after being extradited to Northern Ireland in October.

During a bail application, prosecutors claimed he was involved in luring the victims to their deaths. A judge was told mobile telephone calls, cell-site analysis and eyewitness evidence links him to the killings, along with other suspects.

Opposing Lagan’s bid to be released from custody, a Crown lawyer said that within hours of the murders he stopped using his phone and headed over the border with two other men central to the investigation.

“It’s our case the three left the jurisdiction together, resided together and effectively started a new life in the Republic of Ireland,” she said.

The court heard Burns was shot after receiving a phone call and leaving his home, telling an acquaintance that someone needed help but that he had a bad feeling. “We say it was this telephone call that lured him to Bog Meadows,” the lawyer said.

Another man believed to have been at the scene of the killing was shot in the neck with the same gun before fleeing the scene and getting a taxi to hospital, the court heard.

Lagan is not suspected of being the gunman in either attack. However, counsel claimed he then phoned the second victim, Jones, and got him to go to Elmfield Street, where the fatal assault was carried out.

Residents reported hearing the apparent sound of a shovel hitting against a wall and hard surface, along with two men laughing, Later that morning, Jones’ severely beaten body was found in an alley.

Lagan’s barrister, Neil Fox, disputed prosecution assertions that he left behind a life in Belfast to move to the Republic.

He said his client had been travelling back and forward to work in Dublin from 2005.

Adjourning the bail application, Lord Justice Treacy requested more information on Lagan’s work and travel arrangements in the period after the murders.