County Derry men ordered to stand trial accused of IRA membership and having weapons

Three men were today (Friday) ordered to stand trial accused of IRA membership and having weapons. 

Standing side by side in the dock of Coleraine Magistrates’ Court, the three all confirmed their identities and that they were aware of the charges against them. 

The three accused are Michael Conwell (31), from Castleton Square, Fintona, Dermot Burke (60), from Hass Road in Dungiven and a youth.

The trio are jointly charged with two counts of membership of a proscribed organisation, namely the IRA, possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and possessing weapons in a public place, namely two metal poles.

None of the background facts were opened in court today but previous courts have heard how three masked men entered a number of licensed premises in Dungiven on January 19 2024.

According to the police case, Michael Conwell “leads the charge” with the firearm in his left hand as the trio of masked terrorists visited four pubs and St. Canice’s GAA club over the course of an hour between 7 and 8pm.

The gang declared to patrons during their 30 second visits: “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.”

Previous courts have heard how detectives had obtained CCTV footage from the various premises, and data from a Ford car connected to Michael Conwell, which suggests the Ford car met up with a white Citroen van in the car park of Owenbeg GAA on the Foreglen Road in Dungiven.

That van was then used to transport the masked terrorists to each of the pubs, as well as St. Canice’s GAA club. 

Police believe 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. 

There was also evidence obtained by police which connected Michael 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 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, Michael Conwell’s Ford Ecosport has a built in SIM card.

A 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. 

In court today, a prosecuting lawyer submitted there was a case to answer against each of the defendants and their respective lawyers conceded the point. 

None of the three commented on the charges or called evidence on their own behalf. 

Freeing them all on continuing bail, District Judge Peter King returned the case to Belfast Crown Court and although he did not specify a date for their arraignment, he said it was likely to be on September 12.