Parade breach charges against more than 40 republicans, many of them high profile, were dismissed by a court in Newry on Friday due to a “fundamental” prosecution oversight.
As district judge Eamon King dismissed the case against the 43 defendants, many of them clapped and cheered the announcement, while alleged terrorists David Jordan and Kevin Barry Murphy, appearing by videolink from prison, held their fists aloft in celebration.
The 43 defendants, 35 men and eight women, had all faced two charges arising from a hunger strike memorial parade in Newry on October 5th, 2019 – failing to comply with conditions put in place by the Parades Commission and taking part in an unnotified parade.
Among the defendants were two men facing charges in relation to the murder of journalist Lyra McKee, three men and a woman currently on remand accused of IRA membership and directing terrorism, allegedly snared in an MI5 double-agent covert sting, two men accused in a Spotlight documentary of being the leaders of the New IRA, and a convicted terrorist who was jailed for assisting offenders in the murder of a police officer.
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Opening the crown case, a prosecuting lawyer told the court how the Parades Commission had made a determination that the parade was to follow a certain route and that there “shall be no colour parties of any type, nor flags, clothes, instruments, badges or emblems displayed which could be seen as associated with any paramilitary organisations”, among other restrictions.
A police inspector had tried to serve a copy of the determination on organisers before the parade and on the day it took place, but they refused to accept it.
The parade progressed through the city but at one stage it turned into Hill Street and, despite several police warnings to the marshals, it continued on what was not a notified route and which was in breach of the Parades Commission determination.
Each of the defendants, she told the court, was identified from video footage recorded by police evidence-gathering teams.
However, the crown case fell apart when defence counsel Kevin Magill highlighted that, while the alleged Parades Commission (PC) breaches were before the court, “the fundamental problem is that the PC determination is not”.
“There’s no map, the [notified] route is not stated so there is a fundamental difficulty,” said Mr Magill, who suggested to the judge: “How can you determine what a breach is when the determination is not before you of what the route was?
He continued: “There’s no evidence before this court to satisfy the court that the route was in breach of the determination.”
While the Public Prosecution Service of Northern Ireland lawyer initially tried to argue there was sufficient material on the court papers, a short time later she said that, having reviewed the papers, “I concede the point.”
The judge said, “accordingly, in those circumstances, the charges against all defendants are dismissed.”