‘THIS IS COMPLETE FANTASY ISLAND STUFF... ISN’T IT, MR McILROY?’

LAUGHTER erupted in the packed public gallery, cutting through the silent courtroom as Blane McIlroy was quizzed about being prone to exaggeration.

Dressed in a charcoal grey suit, white shirt and lilac tie, the former Ulster scrum-half sat upright in the evidence box in the hushed courtroom 12 of Belfast Crown Court for his day in the dock in this lengthy and very high-profile trial.

McIlroy, 26, was being questioned by the barrister for his childhood friend, Paddy Jackson.

Asked if he liked to joke around, McIlroy leaned in close to the microphone, looking at the jury and replied: ‘Yes.’ ‘To exaggerate? Would you agree?’ counsel for Mr Jackson, Brendan Kelly QC probed further.

McIlroy again moved forward, appearing to almost touch the microphone and replied: ‘Yes.’ ‘Friends even say you can be known to talk sh**e?’ he exclaimed.

Stifled laughter rippled through the crowded public gallery as McIlroy appeared to hesitate slightly before shrugging his shoulders, tilting his head to the side and replying: ‘Yeah.’

Throughout questioning from his counsel and cross-examination, McIlroy took long drinks of water, re-filling his glass from a jug in front of him.

‘This is complete fantasy island on your behalf isn’t it?’ prosecutor Toby Hedworth QC asked, referring to McIlroy’s account of the night of the alleged rape in June 2016.

McIlroy then shifted his gaze from the barrister to the jury and again leaned in close to the microphone and replied: ‘No it’s not.’

The toll of the trial, which was yesterday on its 29th day was etched deeply on the jurors’ faces, and yet still they seemed to be listening intently to the exchange.

Some were watching McIlroy with their heads resting on their hands, while others are busily taking notes.

‘Unfortunately you gave Mr Olding’s false statement [to the police].

‘This is Paddy Jackson’s version of what Stuart Olding did,’ Mr Hedworth said.

‘This is a pack of lies to help Paddy and Stuart.

‘But unfortunately you got the wrong lines,’ he continued.

McIlroy, lowering his head again to the microphone and looking at the men and women of the jury replied: ‘Not correct.’

Some of the jury of eight men and three women appeared to be looking to see any reaction on the faces of the other defendants as they moved their eyes from McIlroy in the evidence box to look at defendants Paddy Jackson, Stuart Olding and Rory Harrison sitting in the glass dock.

‘You got the wrong lines,’ the barrister repeated to McIlroy. He replied: ‘No, there was no lines.’

McIlroy also told the court he thought sex had been a possibility with the female house guests and agreed he told one of the women, Dara Florence, ‘this could be the best night of your life’. This was said ‘in a joking way’, he said.

Mr Hedworth asked him how he felt when the women left in a taxi. ‘Did you feel you would have to look elsewhere?’ McIlroy responded: ‘Potentially, yeah.’

The court also heard that exactly one minute after a taxi arrived to pick up the two other girls from the party, McIlroy sent a text to Jackson saying: ‘Is there any possibility of a threesome?’

The text went unanswered.