Omagh dissident knew targeted police officer since childhood

AN Omagh man who has admitted charges connected to a car bomb attack on a serving PSNI officer in Castlederg over 15 years ago had known the victim since childhood.

Belfast Crown Court heard today that 46-year-old Gavin Coyle grew up in the same area as the constable, who was severely injured in the May 2008 attempted murder bid.

The pair also went to the same school, although were “not friends” as adults.

At an earlier appearance before the court, Coyle, of Mullaghmore Drive, had pleaded guilty to belonging to a proscribed organisation, namely the Irish Republican Army, on a date unknown between May 1, 2007 and May 13, 2008, and a further charge of providing his car, an Audi A4, knowing it would be used for the purposes of terrorism between May 10 and 13, 2008.

Today, the court heard, on the evening of Monday, May 12, 2008, the victim left his house in the Castlederg area and began to drive to Enniskillen for night shift duty.

But, shortly after turning on to the Drumnabey Road, a car bomb that had been placed under the driver’s seat of his vehicle exploded. Despite sustaining severe injuries, the constable was able to unbuckle his seat belt and drag himself out of the car before it went on fire.

Other road users stopped to help the stricken officer, who was clearly in a lot of pain.

Praising the officer’s strength and determination, the prosecutor told the court, “He was fortunate to escape with his life.”

Having sustained puncture wounds and lacerations, the constable was initially taken to Altnagelvin Hospital before being transferred to the Ulster Hospital for further surgery.

The Tyrone Brigade of the Real IRA subsequently claimed responsibility for the attack, the court heard.

Outlining Coyle’s involvement, the prosecutor told the court that, prior to the incident, the defendant had sought out and obtained information on the constable that may have been useful to terrorists.

Coyle also accepted providing his vehicle over the weekend in question, although he did not know or suspect it was going to be used to target the police officer.

The court was told that the defendant and the victim had grown up in the same area and attended the same school, but were not friends as adults.

In the months before the attack, two witnesses who worked with Coyle at the time stated that he had asked them about the victim, whom they also knew. Coyle had claimed that the police officer helped to “get him out of trouble” in Enniskillen and he just wanted to thank him, the court heard.

The prosecutor also outlined how CCTV footage had captured the defendant’s Audi A4 in convoy with another vehicle on the weekend of the incident. Both vehicles were involved in the transportation of the explosive used in the attempt to kill the policeman.

The court heard that Coyle had been interviewed by police twice in 2008 following the Castlederg car bomb and again in 2011, following the murder of PSNI Constable Ronan Kerr in Omagh. He did not admit his involvement in the earlier attack on any of these occasions when given the opportunity to do so.

The evidence against the defendant also includes a covert audio recording made by the security services in Carrickmore in 2010, the court heard.

Outlining the defendant’s previous criminal history, the prosecutor told the court that, in 2014, Coyle had been sentenced to ten years – five in custody and five on licence – in connection to IRA membership and a substantial weapons find at Mountjoy Road, near Coalisland.

After listening to the submissions from the prosecution counsel, Her Honour Judge Patricia Smyth adjourned the case until Friday, September 8, when she will hear submissions from Coyle’s legal team ahead of sentencing.