IRA bombing suspect fights extradition for trial in North

AN alleged IRA bomber who is suspected of the murder of two soldiers in Fermanagh is contesting his extradition from the Republic to face trial in the North.

John Downey has been remanded in custody following a hearing at the High Court in Dublin, but will make a bid for bail tomorrow.

The 66-year-old was charged previously in connection with the IRA’s Hyde Park bomb, which killed four Cavalrymen, but walked free after his trial collapsed.

Prosecutors in Northern Ireland have decided there is sufficient evidence to prosecute Mr Downey for the murders of Lance Corporal Alfred Johnston, 32, a father-of-four, and Private James Eames, 33, a father-ofthree, in Enniskillen in 1972. The two Ulster Defence Regiment soldiers died when an IRA bomb exploded in a car they were checking.

At the High Court in Dublin yesterday, Judge Aileen Donnelly heard that Mr Downey, an oyster farmer from Ards, Creeslough, Co. Donegal, was being held on the two murder charges, as well as on suspicion of aiding and abetting an explosion.

He was arrested by gardaí in Co. Donegal on Monday evening under a European Arrest Warrant, as part of a joint operation with the PSNI.

His counsel, Garnet Orange SC, said yesterday the ‘antiquity of the alleged offences’ was a factor which would have to be considered by the court at a bail hearing.

Judge Donnelly was told by Ronan Kennedy BL, for the State, that gardaí had not given their consent for bail.

She said she would remand him in custody, and would list the extradition hearing for November 23. She said he could make his application for bail tomorrow.

A number of supporters including four Sinn Féin TDs, Pearse Doherty, Martin Ferris, Seán Crowe and Dessie Ellis, were in court. Speaking outside, Mr Doherty said: ‘In my view John should be returned to his family where he has been living for the last number of decades.’