More Details Revealed In Constable Carroll Case

More details have been released about the murder weapon used to kill Constable Stephen Carroll three years ago.

Forensic scientists who examined the remains of the bullets found in Constable Carroll’s car have said that they were of Yugoslavian origin, had been manufactured in 1982 and were fired from the same gun.

The scientists revealed that the gun, an AK47 later found wrapped in bin bags and hidden beneath the oil tank of a house in the Pinebank estate, was fired at least two times and was slightly rusted on the inside.

The court heard that the firing line was about 50m from where Constable Carroll's car was parked and that wire fences surrounding the estate would have affected the direction of the bullets.

The Background

The murder of Constable Stephen Carroll was a "set-up" near a housing estate police regarded as a dissident republican stronghold back in March 2009.

A bullet was shot through the back window of the car in which Constable Stephen Carroll sat during an emergency call-out to Lismore Manor in Craigavon in 2009 killing him.

Former Sinn Fein councillor Brendan McConville, 40, and John Paul Wooton, 20, deny charges of murder and possession of an AK47 assault rifle.

Wooton’s 48-year-old mother Sharon denies perverting justice by removing a computer from her home.

The prosecution counsel however said that DNA and other evidence could tie the pair to the murder.

So far the court has heard how undercover soldiers secretly bugged the car of Mr Wotton ,one of the accused, with a tracking device. This device has identified that Mr Wotton’s car was parked close to the scene of the attack and drove off within minutes of the killing.

A coat, found in the boot of the car, it is claimed had remnants of gun residue and the DNA of Mr McConville. Prosecution are suggesting that the murder weapon, which was later recovered from under an oil tank at an address in the Pinebank area of Craigavon, was wrapped in the coat.

Mr McConville who is denying the charges refused to answer detective’s questions during over 40 police interviews. He only read a statement, which said he was not part of any proscribed organisations, and that the coat recovered from the boot of Mr Wotton’s car did not belong to him.

Mr Wotton who was interviewed by police nearly 40 times also refused to answer any questions.

Constable Carroll was the first police officer to be killed since the formation of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

(LB)