Man fails in bid to stop trial in connection with David Black murder
Lawyers for Damien McLaughlin claimed the decision should be quashed because he was unfairly denied the chance to cross-examine a key prosecution witness.
They also contended that a district judge who committed him for trial applied the wrong legal test.
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Hide AdBut Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan ruled on Wednesday that there was nothing irrational or perverse about the process.
McLaughlin, 39, from the Kilmascally Road in Dungannon, is facing four charges in relation to the prison officer’s killing.
They include aiding and abetting his murder, having a Toyota Camry car for use in terrorism, preparing a terrorist act by starting and moving the vehicle which the killers used, and belonging to a proscribed organisation, namely the IRA.
Mr Black was shot dead on the M1 in County Armagh in November 2012 en route to work at high security Maghaberry Prison.
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Hide AdThe 52-year-old father of two was the first Northern Ireland prison officer to be murdered in nearly 20 years.
The prosecution alleges McLaughlin transported the Toyota car across the Irish border on the eve of the attack.
In June last year a preliminary investigation resulted in the district judge ordering him to be returned for trial.
McLaughlin’s legal team launched judicial review proceedings against decisions to admit hearsay evidence and to return him for trial.
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Hide AdTheir challenge centred on statements from a man who was arrested and interviewed by the Garda as a suspect in the murder plot.
He was not called as a witness during the preliminary investigation.
Senior counsel for McLaughlin told Sir Declan and Mr Justice Maguire there is a statutory right to cross-examine witnesses before trial.
A prosecution barrister c