The trial of three Northern Ireland men accused of "Real IRA" membership collapsed at the Special Criminal Court yesterday after the prosecution conceded a defence application for a mistrial.
The three accused were remanded on continuing bail until March 25th, when the case will be mentioned again.
The defence application that a mistrial be declared came on Wednesday, the 18th day of the trial of the three men who were arrested in Co Monaghan in November 2002. It followed evidence from a Garda chief superintendent that original documents in the trial had been "mislaid".
The three-judge court court had been due to give a ruling on the defence application, but when the trial resumed yesterday, prosecuting counsel Mr George Birmingham SC said: "I am conceding the application that has been made by counsel."
The three had pleaded not guilty to membership of an illegal organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Óglaigh na hÉireann, otherwise the IRA, on November 8th, 2002. They were arrested during a Garda investigation into "Real IRA" activities in Co Monaghan.
They are Mr Cathal Loughran (27), Friary Road, Clady, Co Armagh, Mr Dominic Dynes (32), St Matthew's Estate, Keady, Co Armagh, and Mr Aidan Grew (47), Benburb St, Blackwatertown, Co Armagh.
A fourth man arrested with the three accused is the subject of a murder investigation. He went missing last year while on bail.
The court was told that Mr Loughran and Mr Dynes were arrested near the Border after Special Branch detectives stopped a car and stolen jeep. Mr Grew and the fourth man were arrested after Mr Grew tried to reverse at speed from a farmyard where gardaí were conducting a search.
Chief Supt Colm Rooney gave evidence on the third day of the trial that he believed the three were members of an illegal organisation on the date in question. On Wednesday he told the court that a number of original briefing notes relating to orders he signed extending the detention of the four after their arrest had been "mislaid".
Defence lawyers had sought the original notes but Chief Supt Rooney said he had been unable to find them after carrying out searches at his home, his car, and at Monaghan Garda station.
He agreed with Ms Ivana Bacik, counsel for Mr Grew, that the documents had been "mislaid or lost in the course of the trial". He said he had last seen them when he put them in the door pocket of his car after photocopying them at the station. He said his car had not been broken into or entered.
Defence lawyers had submitted there should be a mistrial because, in the absence of the original briefing notes, they were not able to test the credibility of Chief Supt Rooney, the chief prosecution witness, as to his beliefs concerning the three accused.