A Dublin woman who is facing terrorist charges in London was returned to prison yesterday when sureties secured for her bail failed to meet the conditions set down by the Old Bailey last month.
A new attempt to present three sureties for Ms Elaine Moore (21) will be made this morning at Greenwich Magistrates Court after a surety of £20,000 was rejected by Belmarsh Magistrates Court yesterday because the guarantor was on holiday in America. Two sureties of £10,000 each were also rejected on the basis that the property being pledged was in Northern Ireland and not London.
Last night Ms Moore's family called on Irish and British politicians to take up the case with the British Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine.
In what was thought to be a straightforward remand hearing, Ms Moore, who is facing charges of conspiracy to cause explosions and possession of explosives, the court was adjourned twice to find suitable sureties.
Also appearing with Ms Moore on charges of conspiracy to cause explosions were Mr Darren Mulholland (19), from Dundalk, Co Louth, Mr Liam Patrick Grogan (21), from Naas, Co Kildare, and Mr Anthony Hyland (25), with no address given, who are charged with conspiracy to cause explosions. Mr Grogan, Ms Moore and Mr Hyland have been charged with possession of explosives.
The difficulty with Ms Moore's sureties arose when the stipendiary magistrate, Mr David Cooper, said he was unhappy about varying the conditions of her bail as set down by the Old Bailey. Sureties of £40,000 had already been lodged with the court. Despite lodging £20,000 with Ms Moore's solicitors as a safeguard, outstanding £20,000 and £10,000 sureties proved the stumbling block.
After Mr Mulholland, Mr Grogan and Mr Hyland were further remanded in custody until September 17th, the court rejected a £10,000 surety because the assets offered were in Northern Ireland.
Mr Cooper told the court that despite the "admirable character references" provided for Ms Moore and his admission that "no one would be sorrier about this than I am", he had not set the conditions for bail. If the sureties were unacceptable to the clerk of the court she would be returned to custody.
Ms Moore's solicitor, Mr Tim Greene, told the court that the case had caused "great, great concern in Ireland" and a representative of the Irish Embassy had authorised him to say it would be viewed "with the utmost concern" if Ms Moore were remanded in custody. He said Ms Moore, as a category A prisoner, would face four strip searches a day in an all-male prison.
Rejecting this, Mr Cooper said while he was aware of the "unsatisfactory and distasteful" prospects of a return to prison he would "be open to all sorts of criticism" by setting a Crown Court order to one side.
The hearing was adjourned twice to allow Ms Moore's legal team to find other sureties amounting to £30,000, but the court returned to be told only one suitable candidate could be found. Mr Greene told the court that a surety of £20,000 was being offered by the owner of a pharmaceutical company based in Northern Ireland with assets of £0.75 million and he was being asked to travel to the court to sign a surety.
However, after an hour's wait for the owner of the pharmaceutical company, Ms Moore's family admitted the proposal had fallen through because the court would not accept assets based in Northern Ireland.