Car bomb case: Man due in court

A man was due in court today on charges connected with a planned car bomb attack at Northern Ireland’s biggest street festival.

Detectives hunting terrorists who abandoned a huge device bomb the Auld Lammas Fair last night charged a 30-year-old from Coleraine, Co Derry.

Army explosives experts defused the primed incendiary device found during the annual event in Ballycastle, Co Antrim last August.

Loyalists were blamed for leaving the bomb in the seaside town where up to 100,000 people had gathered.

Police have confirmed the accused faces charges of possessing explosives and placing an explosive device.

He is expected to appear before North Antrim Magistrates’ Court, sitting in Coleraine later today.

It is understood the charges relate to the bomb uncovered in a white Ford Sierra car by a routine police patrol.

The device, comprising two gas cylinders, a detonator and a timer, was uncovered in a white Ford Sierra by a routine police patrol just as the second day of the fair was getting underway.