A 44-year-old Co Derry man appeared before Ballymena magistrates yesterday charged with the murders of two soldiers at their base in Antrim last March.
Brian Patrick Shivers from Maghera is also charged with the attempted murders of six others and with a firearms and ammunition offence.
Mark Quinsey (23) and Patrick Azimkar (21) were shot a number of times as they collected pizzas from delivery men at the gates of their base at Massereene four months ago. They were due to fly to Helmand province in Afghanistan the following day.
Four others were seriously injured, including one of the pizza deliverymen. More than 60 shots were fired in the attack which was later claimed by the Real IRA.
Magistrate Phillip Mateer was told of CCTV evidence of the attack and of alleged DNA evidence linking the accused to the vehicle believed to have been used by the gunmen which was found a short distance from Antrim.
It had not been burned out.
Det Insp Justin Galloway said DNA traces had been found both on a mobile phone and on other items recovered at the location where the car was left.
“Two matches recovered from the rear seat of the Vauxhall Cavalier revealed a full DNA profile,” he said.
He also said he believed the accused was active in the Real IRA and would possibly abscond if freed on bail by the court, or interfere with potential witnesses.
Defence lawyer Niall Murphy told the magistrate these were just partial DNA matches and the nature of the evidence was similar to that presented in the Omagh bombing trial which was thrown out by the judge.
“This is simply low copy DNA, which has been repackaged for legal and scientific expedience,” he said.
He also told the court the accused had no previous criminal record, was in need of regular hospital treatment, had a young son and was engaged, and therefore posed no risk of absconding.
Det Insp Galloway told the magistrate: “We have previously tried to arrest another suspect in this investigation, but have been unsuccessful, and we have reason to believe he has fled the jurisdiction.” The magistrate remanded the accused in custody to appear again by video link on August 18th.
One other man has been charged with the murders of the two soldiers. Colin Duffy (41) is currently held in custody and faces eight charges; two counts of murder, five counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a firearm.