25/11/2009

Fermanagh Murder Charges Heard

One of two men accused of attempting to murder a trainee police recruit shot his gun as he came under fire from undercover PSNI officers, a court heard today.

Gerard James McManus, aged 26, is alleged to have discharged his weapon as he fled from the home of the student officer in the border village of Garrison in Co Fermanagh when plain clothes officers intervened on Saturday night.

He appeared at Dungannon Magistrates' Court this morning along with his co-accused, 32-year-old Kevin Barry Nolan.

As well as the attempted murder charge McManus, from Fernhill in the Co Donegal town of Letterkenny, and Nolan, from Main Street, Blacklion, Co Cavan, also face counts of possessing a weapon and ammunition with intent to endanger life.

They were both remanded in custody to appear in court again in December.

Detectives from the PSNI Serious Crime Branch charged both men in relation to a gun attack in the Co Fermanagh village of Garrison at the weekend.

Three other men arrested after the weekend gun attack, which took place in the village of Garrison, were released without charge on Monday.

Two were arrested by the PSNI in Fermanagh and one by Irish police in County Leitrim.

Meanwhile, the police are appealing for information about a car thought to be linked to the shooting.

They want to hear from anyone who saw a blue Vauxhall Astra, registration UBZ 6206, in the Fermanagh area on Saturday 21 November.

Dissident republicans were blamed for the attack in Fermanagh as well as for a 400lb bomb which partially exploded outside the headquarters of the NI Policing Board in Belfast the same evening.

See: Fermanagh Shooting Suspects Freed

(BMcC/GK)

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