Work on a case file regarding a bomb being left at Lurgan Police Station is “progressing at pace,” a prosecutor has told Craigavon Magistrates’ Court.
The update was given on Friday when a suspect, Barry Toman, appeared at court via video link from prison where he has been on remand.
A bomb was driven to Lurgan PSNI Station in March. A food delivery driver was hijacked in the Kilwilkie area of the town and forced to drive a device to the station.
The New IRA had claimed responsibility for the attack.
Barry Anthony Toman (48), a scaffolder, with an address listed as Drumnamoe Avenue, which is in Kilwilkie, is charged with hijacking the food delivery driver’s vehicle and forcing the person to transport the bomb on March 30 this year.
Toman is also charged with attempting to murder ‘persons unknown’; attempting to cause an explosion; and possession of explosives with intent to endanger life.
The charge sheet says it was an ‘improvised explosive device’.
The hijacking charge is ‘hijacking by compelling a person to act’ with the full charge being that ‘unlawfully by force or threat thereof or by some other form of intimidation compelled a person to use a vehicle, namely an Audi A4, for an unlawful purpose, namely transporting an improvised explosive device to the vicinity of Lurgan PSNI Station’.
At Craigavon Magistrates’ Court on Friday, a prosecutor said the case file is “progressing at pace”.
She said another arrest was made on July 9 in relation to the investigation “which has generated more material for police to go through”.
The court was told phone reports are awaited and a review of CCTV is ongoing.
The prosecutor added: “The investigating officer is working on the case as a priority.”
Objecting to bail at an earlier court, a police officer had said that at around 10.45pm on March 30, a pizza delivery driver pulled into the front gates of Lurgan Police Station and told security there was a bomb in his vehicle.
The vehicle had been hijacked earlier following a false delivery order.
The bomb failed to detonate.
The officer said it was a “viable timer-powered device with low explosive in a pipe-shaped object and shrapnel contained within. It also contained a number of jars of flammable liquid designed to create maximum fire damage”.
The officer said Toman was “connected through DNA examination” regarding component parts of the device.
The officer said the defendant had a record including a conviction from 2002 for possession of explosives with intent to endanger life in relation to the “placing of a bomb under a military vehicle”.
He said police believe the defendant is involved in “dissident activity” and the fear is that if he was released on bail he would “continue to engage in violent terrorist attacks aiming to cause death and destruction”.
A defence lawyer told the earlier court there was “no CCTV evidence” linking the accused to “the scene”, or linking him to “the area” or “being out at the time”.
District Judge Michael Ranaghan had told the earlier court there was a “prima facie case that is made out of the combination of DNA evidence on various separate items, whether that evidence is mixed or partial profiles. At this stage there is also nascent circumstantial strands of evidence”.
He said the defendant’s record “might show a certain proclivity towards certain organisations”.
The judge believed there was a “risk” which could not be managed on bail and had, at the earlier court, refused bail.
At Friday’s court no new application was made for bail and the case has been further adjourned to August 7.
