Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Cop: Device so basic I thought it was wind-up
‘Crude’ explosive taped on PSNI officer’s car, court told
A POLICE officer who discovered a bomb under his car initially thought the “crude” device was placed there as a joke, a court heard yesterday.
His statement was read during the first day of a non-jury trial linked to the discovery of the viable device outide Shandon Park Golf Club in East Belfast in June 2019.
Peter Thomas Granaghan, from Co Fermanagh, has been charged with three counts arising from the incident – attempted murder of a serving member of the PSNI, and both making and possessing explosives with intent to endanger life.
It’s the Crown’s case that DNA from the 41-year old accused was located on two separate component parts of the under-vehicle improvised device.
ARRESTED
Prosecuting barrister Ciaran Murphy QC at Belfast Crown Court said: “It could be inferred that the depositing of that DNA was consistent with the accused being in possession of and involved with the device at a stage when it was being constructed.”
Granaghan, from Blackrock Park in Belleek, was arrested in the aftermath of the discovery and has denied involvement in making the bomb.
The incident unfolded on June 1, 2019, when the officer was walking back to his car after playing a round of golf.
He parked his grey Cherokee jeep in the club’s car park at around 7.40am, and when he returned to it at around 12.10pm he noticed an object resembling a brown shoe box lying under it, the court heard.
In a statement, the officer – referred to as Witness A – said: “I thought initially it was maybe a shoe box or my shoe bag which may have fallen out of my jeep.”
The officer said as he got closer he realised the object was attached to the underneath area of the vehicle.
He added: “It looked crude and basic, it looked like a kid’s woodwork project and I wondered if it was placed there as a wind-up. As I got to 20 feet from the vehicle, I got down low and I could see there was black tape on the side of the wooden box.”
Witness A said when he realised what the object was, he returned to the clubhouse and notified the PSNI.
Later that afternoon, a controlled explosion was carried out on the device which was fitted with a mercury tilt switch and timer, and contained TNT.
Witness A also revealed that the night before the discovery, he parked his car in his driveway.
He said in the early hours he heard male voices outside and his neighbour’s dog barking which prompted him to get up and look out of the bedroom window.
In his statement, the officer added while he usually looked under his car for devices, that morning he didn’t “get down and check in the usual way”.
A forensic exam confirmed Granaghan’s DNA profile on the device.
He was arrested after a search of his home on September 11, 2019, during which a number of items were seized, including a soldering iron.
Granaghan was interviewed on nine separate occasions over a two-day period and refused to answer any questions, the court heard.
Prosecuting QC Mr Murphy said such devices were “commonly deployed by terrorists in murderous acts in Northern Ireland” and that Granaghan “acted as a secondary party” with the intention to kill or maim. At hearing.
It looked like a kid’s woodwork project, I thought it was a joke BELFAST CROWN COURT YESTERDAY