Man accused of plot to kill PSNI officer refused bail

A MAN accused of tr ying to murder an off duty PSNI officer by planting a bomb under his car has failed in a bail application.

Sean Paul Farrell (36), from Stannaway Road in the Crumlin area of Dublin is alleged to have committed the offences in the driveway of the officer’s home in the Co Londonderry village of Eglinton on June 18, 2015.

Opposing the bail application at Derry Magistrates Court, a prosecutor told District Judge Barney Mcelholm that on the day of the alleged offences the defendant crossed the border from Derry into Co Donegal where he was arrested and interviewed by gardai before they released him.

However after a “domestic warrant” was issued for his arrest, efforts were put in place to extradite the defendant from Dublin. The prosecutor said he then “jumped bail” and left the Republic before his subsequent arrest in Glasgow after which he was brought before a magistrate in Northern Ireland and remanded in custody.

“When it was clear he was to be extradited he fled despite the gardai having his passport. After he had absconded his family had to forfeit a €35,000 cash surety,” the prosecutor said.

The barrister said the police believed that if granted bail the defendant would again abscond. He said two proposed bail addresses put forward by the defence, one in Dublin and the other in Northern Ireland, were not acceptable to police

Applying for bail, defence barrister Michael Forde said the defendant, the father of a threeyear-old child, was engaged to a financial business development manager in Dublin who was prepared to offer a cash surety of £5,000 for her fiance.

Mr Forde said as gardai had the defendant’s passport, he was no longer a flight risk and he said that appropriate conditions could be imposed as part of any court bail conditions.

The District Judge said that “given the state of flux at the moment” in terms of the impact any Brexit deal or non-deal could, have on European Arrest Warrants, the proposed bail address in Dublin was “totally unsuitable”. Mr Mcelholm said police also had reservations about the proposed Northern Ireland bail address.

As regards the offer of a £5,000 cash surety, Mr Mcelholm said: “His past form has been to abscond even though his family had to forfeit a substantial amount of money.”

Bail was refused and the defendant was remanded in custody until December 21 to enable a date and venue to be fixed for his committal hearing.