Blood matching Damien Heagney found in Dromore flat of accused

BLOOD matching that of Cookstown man Damien Heagney was located in the Dromore flat of the man accused of his murder, a court heard on Tuesday.

As the Crown case against 41-year old Stephen McCourt was opened to a jury at Belfast Crown Court, a prosecuting barrister said that the accused was also seen ‘loading a carpet’ bearing ‘dark stain’ into the back of his white van.

Mr Heagney (47) was last seen alive at the end of December 2021.

He was reported missing in July 2022 and on August 10, 2022, his dismembered remains were located at Cappagh reservoir in Tyrone.

McCourt, from Riverview in Augher, has been charged with, and has denied, murdering Mr Heagney on a date unknown between December 29, 2021, and January 7, 2022.

Opening the case against McCourt to the jury of seven women and five men, Crown barrister Gary McHugh KC likened the different pieces of evidence to a jigsaw puzzle.

He said that, like a jigsaw puzzle, one piece may not make much sense but ‘as you put the pieces together, the full picture emerges’.

Mr McHugh said that ‘when each piece of evidence’ is put together, it would lead them to conclude that ‘Mr McCourt murdered Mr Heagney’.

Setting out the background to the case, the prosecutor said the deceased was last seen alive at the end of December 2021, and the last use of his mobile phone was at the start of January 2022 when he was in contact with McCourt.

Concerns

Concerns were then raised in July 2022 by staff at a pharmacy who noticed that Mr Heagney has stopped picking up his prescription.

His Cookstown home was searched by the PSNI on July 26, 2022 where officers discovered a pile of unopened mail and formed the impression no-one had been in the property for ‘some time’.

Mr McHugh said that the reservoir at Cappagh was searched and ‘partial human remains’ were located the following month.

After forensic analysis, these were found to be the dismembered remains of the missing man.

The prosecutor said that during the course of the trial, they will be presented with ‘facts’ to ‘consider and digest’.

This, he said, included the last known movements of Mr Heagney at the end of December 2021.

Mr McHugh said that after experiencing trouble with his BMW, Mr Heagney contacted a vehicle breakdown company on December 30/31 and both he and his vehicle were dropped off close to McGartland Terrace in Dromore where he was ‘met by a man’.

In December 2021, McCourt was living in a first floor flat at McGartland Terrace, and following the discovery of remains in the reservoir in August, police searched his property. Forensic samples including a swab from a smear of blood located on a bedroom doorframe were taken from the flat and analysed.

Mr McHugh told the jury, “This sample of blood, we say, matched with Mr Heagney and you will hear expert evidence about that.”

He also said evidence would be heard from a witness who saw a resident of a flat at McGartland Terrace – who the Crown say was McCourt ‘loading a carpet’ into the rear of a white van.

This witness was five feet from the incident and also recalled observing a ‘big dark stain’ on the carpet.

Another witness due to give evidence at the trial was called by McCourt in January 2022 and asked to recover and tow away a white Citreon Berlingo van which had become stuck beside Cappagh reservoir.

Bolt cutters

Regarding the discovery of Mr Heagney’s dismembered remains on August 10, 2022, the following day a property linked to McCourt in Dungannon was searched by police who found a pair of bolt cutters in a shed.

A piece of wire found around the human remains was forensically examined and an expert formed the view that these bolt cutters could have cut the wire recovered around sections of the remains.

Mr McHugh also revealed that in January 2022, McCourt contacted a vehicle recovery company and paid them to remove Mr Heagney’s BMW from Dromore.

The accused gave the company the car key and told them to leave the BMW at crossroads located on the Omagh to Ballygawley Road, where it remained for several months.

Regarding Mr Heagney’s mobile phone, the prosecutor said evidence said the ‘final recorded activity’ on the device was to McCourt, via Facebook Messenger, at 10.53am on January 1, 2022.

McCourt was subsequently arrested on October 10, 2022 and when he was asked if he had killed Mr Heagney, he replied, “No, I did not.”

The prosecutor said that over the course of several more interviews, he was asked ‘hundreds of questions’ and, to virtually all, McCourt replied, “No comment, no comment, no comment.”

He did, however, supply a pre-prepared statement during the final interview on October 12, 2022 which said that Mr Heagney had been to McCourt’s flat in Dromore ‘from-time-to-time’.

The statement also referenced other unnamed people who McCourt said had access to and who used vehicles associated with him with or without his consent.