A workman described in court yesterday how he discovered the decomposed remains of a teenage girl in a fire-bombed flat in Belfast. The witness was giving evidence in the trial of Mr Junior Craig (26), who denies murdering 13-year-old Soina Forsythe in 1991. Her body was discovered five years later.
Mr William Orr told Belfast Crown Court that in April 1996 he had been asked to clear out Mr Craig's fire-bombed flat in Sydney Street West. He said that as he cleared the coal bunker he became suspicious because a piece of carpet was hanging out of the bottom of the bunker, which appeared full of coal.
Mr Orr said he broke a shovel trying to remove the carpet but, with the help of another workman, managed to free it and brought it into the alleyway to unroll it. He said he immediately went to police on discovering the girl's skull and bones.
The flat had been vandalised and fire-bombed a fortnight earlier after police had initially searched Mr Craig's flat looking for possible evidence concerning the schoolgirl's disappearance.
Although police failed to uncover her body, they found two traces of blood in cupboards in Mr Craig's flat. Floorboards from the cupboards were removed for forensic examination of the blood and, according to the prosecution, DNA testing showed they could have come from the teenager.
The trial continues.