Terror trial told one of accused was secretly taped in Spain

Belfast trial of three men allegedly secretly recorded in a Co Armagh park discussing a failed murder bid on police in December 2013 heard yesterday of other alleged secret recordings involving one of the men in Spain four months earlier.

These recordings, said to be of 52-year-old Colin Francis Duffy, allegedly have him attempting to set up an arms deal with a British Secret Service operative posing as a rich east European business man holidaying, like him, in Majorca in August 2013.

The prosecution claim this

Spanish material, ruled in as evidence by a separate disclosure judge, provided a “sinister context” in which an alleged Colin Duffy showed a “preparedness, a propensity in seeking to obtain weapons and explosives”.

Mr Justice O’Hara, hearing the Diplock-style case alone without a jury, was also told the recordings, although circumstantial evidence, “directly supports the charges of membership and directing terrorism”.

Duffy is on trial along with 51-year-old Harry Joseph Fitzsimmons and 58-year-old Alex McCrory on the membership, or purporting to be IRA members, and to directing terrorism. Fitzsimmons and McCrory, whose addresses like that of Duffy cannot be reported at this time, are also charged separately, and deny attempting to murder police in the Ardoyne convoy on December 5, 2013, and possessing the two AK47 assault rifles and ammunition used in the north Belfast gun attack.

Their Belfast Crown Court trial has already seen and heard extracts of covert Secret Service videos, and taped audio recordings allegedly of the trio, made in a Lurgan park the day after the convoy was fired on.

Today it is expected that the trial will be played the recordings made in the Spanish resort of Santa Ponsa, said to have been secretly recorded while Duffy was on a family holiday.

Yesterday the court heard that the audio recordings were between Duffy, the operative and his pretend girlfriend

And while the “operative” was available to give evidence, curtained from the court, and be cross-examined, the defence were not taking any exceptions to the evidence.

The court also heard that the undercover operation was mounted two months earlier in May 2013, in which it was planned the agent would pose as a rich businessman returning to the Spanish resort with his girlfriend. They eventually struck up a friendship with the Duffy family.

The prosecution claimed that Duffy, after hearing the businessman, who’d talked of fighting in Bosnia, say he had “tanks” in reply to a question if he had a yacht, asked if he could get “anything other than tanks”. In turn he was told getting the materials was not the problem, “the difficulty was transport”.

During several meetings Duffy allegedly said he could arrange shipment, and was also taped asking about the explosives C4 and Semtex, while complaining of having to use “fertiliser-based stuff”.

The lawyer further alleged Duffy asked about the possible supply of RPG rockets, detonators, AK47 assault rifles, while also discussing Russian rifles and if they could penetrate flak jackets, and that for about £200k to £250k an amount of equipment “could be supplied in small batches”.

While the man Duffy also talked about difficulties he might have in travelling outside Ireland, as he was “not invisible, he was red hot”, proof of which could be simply obtained by Googling his name, he was “confident that he could come to Europe” to arrange an arms deal.

At hearing.