Padraic Wilson Granted Bail

Padraic Wilson has been released on conditional bail following his arrest in relation to the murder of Robert McCartney in 2005.

Mr Wilson denies the charges against him of IRA membership and of addressing a meeting to encourage support for the IRA.

He will now be released from Maghaberry Prison following the granting of bail from the High Court in Belfast.

Padraic Wilson was the leader of IRA prisoners at the Maze in the early nineties.

He was a key figure in gaining republican prisoners’ support for IRA ceasefires and Sinn Féin’s cross-party talks at Stormont, which led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

Robert McCartney was a father of two from the Short Strand area of Belfast. He was 33 years old when he was beaten and stabbed following an argument at Magennis’s Bar on May Street close to Belfast City Hall.

The prosecution have said Wilson claimed to be a member of the IRA's army council carrying out an internal investigation into the murder.

It is thought he is not being accused of being involved in the killing itself or in covering up the murder.

The prosecution opposed the granting of bail over fears of witness intimidation and interference.

But Mr Wilson’s defence said: "We are dealing with a number of complainants whose brother was murdered a number of years ago and who mounted a very successful, high-profile campaign into the investigation which took them to the doors of Downing Street and the White House.

"These are people who have remarkable fortitude. The idea that Mr Wilson or someone like him could somehow influence them or make them in some way cowed by some remark is just illogical."

No one was ever found guilty of Mr McCartney's killing, despite reports that up to 40 people were in the bar at the time he was assaulted.

In 2008, 51-year-old Terence Davison was acquitted of the murder and two other men were cleared of charges connected to the killing.

(IT/GK)