Woman accused of involvement in disposing of murder victim Odhran Kelly's body weeps in court

Repeatedly wiping tears from her eyes as she appeared at Craigavon Magistrates Court by videolink from prison, 43-year-old Andrea Stevenson thanked District Judge Francis Rafferty as he ordered her to be freed but barred her from contacting witnesses or her co-accused.

Stevenson, from Edward Street in Lurgan, faces a single charge of assisting an offender following the murder of Odhran Kelly on 3 December this year.

Detective Sergeant Donnelly told the court police were objecting to bail due to concerns about the risk of witness interference and also a perceived risk to Stevenson’s own safety. He revealed that Stevenson’s daughter is a witness in the case and also emphasised that around 700 people attended a recent vigil in memory of Mr Kelly.

Under cross examination from defence counsel Gary Cairns, the officer agreed that Stevenson had eventually co-operated during police interviews and had provided an account which assisted the investigation. He also agreed that Stevenson had a proposed bail address which police did not object to and also that a co-accused had been granted bail.

“I’m going to cut this short,” said District Judge Rafferty who said he was content to grant bail to Stevenson with conditions that she doesn’t contact witnesses or co-accused, lives at the approved address and reports to police three times per week.

He told Stevenson that while she could have contact with her daughter, he prohibited her from discussing the case with her.

Another woman, 36-year-old Stephanie McClelland from Shan Slieve also in Lurgan, faces the same charge but she was freed on bail last month.

The case against the two alleged killers, Shane Harte, 31, from Headington House and Gary Damien Scullion, 31, from Edward Street, both in Lurgan, was also mentioned today and put back for a month.

A third woman, Crystal Angela Redden (30) from Garland Avenue in Lurgan, is the latest person to be charged over the murder of 23-year-old nursing assistant Odhran.

Standing in the dock of the court dressed in a grey hooded top, Redden confirmed that she understood the charge of perverting justice in that in on 7 December last year, she made a false statement.

Granting legal aid and freeing redden on bail, DJ Rafferty put her case back to 2 February.

During a bail application by McClelland last month, the court heard that she, another woman and a man were captured carrying Mr Kelly’s body to a car where both the vehicle and the body were later found badly burnt.

DS Donnelly outlined that when police were called to a car on fire on Edward Street just after 4am on 3 December, officers discovered a “badly burnt body” lying beside the burnt out vehicle.

Officers called at the last registered address, Stevenson’s flat on Edward Street, but on their way they spotted a “large amount of blood” on the door of Scullion’s flat opposite the property and when they went inside, officers discovered blood covered beer bottles, “a signifiant amount of congealed blood, drug paraphernalia, a large amount of cash and gloves with blood on them.”

DS Donnelly said when officers went into Stevenson’s flat it “smelled strongly of bleach” and there was a male, dressed in just his boxer shorts, sitting in the kitchen where there was “clothing and blood stained washing in the washing machine.”