Murdered Soldiers 'Taunt Man' Bailed

A Co Antrim man who hurled abuse at grieving relatives of a soldier shot dead by dissident republicans has been granted bail.

He is seeking to appeal a five months jail sentence which was imposed on him this week.

Glen Dowd ,22, shouted IRA slogans at Sapper Patrick Azimkar's family as they gathered to pay their final respects at the scene of his killing.

Mr Azimkar was gunned down along with army colleague Mark Quinsey (both pictured) by the Real IRA outside Massereene Barracks in Antrim on March 7.

Three days later Dowd, of The Meadows, Randalstown, drove past the base and shouted "Up the Ra", prosecutors told the High Court.

The former bank worker returned the following day and repeated the slogan while the Azimkar family were again present.

They had travelled from England to visit the scene where the 21-year-old soldier was killed as he collected pizzas on the eve of his deployment to Afghanistan.

Crown counsel Christine Smith said that following his arrest Dowd claimed to have acted on the spur of the moment.

However, he was unable to explain why he repeated his actions a second time, she said.

Dowd was jailed for a total of five months at Antrim Magistrates Court on Tuesday for disorderly behaviour and other unrelated offences including indecently assaulting a woman in February.

Dowd was granted bail on sureties of £1,500 and banned from taking alcohol.

Mr Justice Treacy also imposed a curfew and ordered him to have no contact with the victim of the indecent assault.

(BMcC/KMcA)