Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Murder trial jury let go after legal issue arises
THE jury presiding over a murder trial arising from the death of a mother of three was discharged by a senior judge yesterday.
As the trial at Belfast Crown Court was due to enter its second day, a legal issue arose which resulted in the trial being halted.
The case against Raymond O’neill was opened on Monday, when a jury was told it was the Crown’s case that he murdered 30-year-old Jennifer Dornan, in her West Belfast home in the early hours of Sunday, August 2, 2015.
APPLICATION
The 41-year old, from Amcomri Street in Belfast, was also charged with arson with intent to endanger life, and denied both this and the murder charge.
As the hearing was due to enter its second day, the application was made to Mr Justice Horner, who granted it and discharged the jury.
Expressing an apology to all those involved in the hearing for the delay, Mr Justice Horner then re-listed the trial to start again in the New Year. that we played on the comeback. We were physically crying, we were trying to look like we were all serious and robotic but we were crying with tears of joy during those gigs.
“Basically it’s stadiums but it’s also playing territory that we’ve never played before.
“From we announced the dates the big thing I noticed on Twitter was there was all these fans saying, ‘Oh my God I can’t believe Westlife are finally playing in a town near me’, so I suppose every cloud has a silver lining.”
But the 39-year-old wants to reassure fans here they will of course be back in the city, just not on this tour. Mark said: “We will absolutely always come back to Belfast.
“I want to be clear because fans might be holding out in case we announce something soon but honestly I want to say out of respect for everyone that it’s definitely not going to be part of this tour and neither is Dublin.”
As well as juggling their busy schedule now the band are reunited, Mark is also enjoying the ups and downs of being a first time dad with his fiance Cailean via surrogate.
He said: “After she [daughter Layla] was born there’s that immediate switch to taking