Man who allegedly 'leads the charge' into Dungiven bars armed with gun appears in court

An alleged IRA terrorist who “leads the charge” as three masked men went from pub to pub in Dungiven issuing threats against anyone involved in drugs was remanded into custody today.

Ballymena Magistrates Court heard that according to the police case CCTV evidence captured from one of the bars shows a masked man, with the height, build and clothing of 30-year-old Michael Stephen Conwell, carrying a handgun in his left hand as he “leads the charge” into the pub.

The court also heard that issuing similar threats in four pubs and the local GAA club, the three men threatened “we are New IRA, we are here to clean up the bars, if you don’t clean up the bars we are going to do it - the bars are full of drugs.”

Standing handcuffed in the dock Conwell, from Lettershendony Avenue in Drumahoe, refused to acknowledge the court or to confirm that he understood the three charges against him.

Having been invited by District Judge Nigel Broderick to “take a seat if you want or you can remain standing, it’s a matter for you,” Conwell was charged with belonging or professing to belong to a proscribed organisation, namely the IRA, possessing a handgun with intent to cause a person to fear unlawful violence would be used against them and with possessing a weapon, namely a metal pole, on the Garvagh Road in Dungiven, all alleged to have been committed in 19 January this year.

The 30-year-old is the second man to appear in court this week as two days ago, 58-year-old Dermot Burke from the Drum Road in the Co. Derry town, was remanded into custody facing the same charges save for the allegation that he was charged with possessing a weapon, namely an iron bar, on Main Street in Dungiven.

Objecting to Conwell being freed on bail, a Det. Const. told the court police had concerns he would commit further offences, abscond or interfere with either the investigation or the witnesses, revealing that so far the police had not yet recovered the handgun or the van used to ferry the masked terrorists around Dungiven.

Giving a detailed outline of the police investigations so far, the officer said police had evidence which connected Conwell to his mother’s white motability Ford Ecosport car and also that a mobile attributable to him had been in contact on numerous occasions both before and after the incident, with Burke’s mobile number.

The court heard that on the evening of the incident, there was CCTV evidence that the Ford car met up with a white Citreon van in the car park of Owenbeg GAA on the Foreglen Road in Dungiven and that van was used to transport the masked terrorists to each of the pubs as well as St. Canice’s GAA.

It is the police case the registration plate of the van had been “doctored with black tape” but that in actuality, the van belongs to Burke’s employers and he regularly drives it.

The court heard that while the mobile phones of both Burke and Conwell show no activity during the hour while the masked terrorists make their intimidatory pub crawl, suggesting they had been switched off, Conwell’s Ford ecosport has a built in SIM card.

The detective told the court that within 24 hours of Burke being arrested, someone had tried to perform a “factory reset” on the car infotainment system to delete data stored on it but despite that, a PSNI technical officer had been able to retrieve GPS data which puts the car entering the Owenbeg car park at a time when it parks up beside the van used by the terrorists.

“This was the meeting place of the masked terrorists before they embarked on their activities in Dungiven town centre,” claimed the officer.

He further claimed that as well as being left handed, there was evidence that Conwell owned clothing similar to that worn by the left-handed gunman who “leads the charge” both from previous stop and searches and from a search of Conwell’s home.

The court heard that when Conwell was arrested, he remained silent throughout more than five hours of questioning over seven interviews.

Defence counsel Sean Doherty told the court Conwell “denies any involvement in these offences” and emphasised that despite police concerns, “he has no history of interference” either with witnesses or the administration of justice and there would be no way to interfere with CCTV footage already seized and viewed.

He argued that with a proposed address in Fintona, “the court can impose a condition barring him from the county of Derry.”

Commenting that what had been outlined “could be described as a strong circumstantial case,” DJ Broderick said he was concerned about the risk of further offences as well as interference with witnesses and the administration of justice.

Refusing to free Conwell, he remanded the alleged dissident terrorist into custody to appear again on 19 February.