McKevitt trial date set

The alleged leader of the Real IRA is expected to go on trial for directing terrorism in January next year.

Michael McKevitt, 51, of Blackrock, Co Louth, who appeared today at Dublin’s Special Criminal Court, is the first person to be charged with the offence in the Ireland.

But a preliminary hearing will also be held on October 9, when there will be legal argument about the disclosure of documents to his defence team.

Stephen McCann, defending, said “a very large amount of evidence” would be presented to the court, which sits with three judges but no jury.

Mr Justice Richard Johnson, presiding, said six weeks would be set aside for the trial, which will be one of the most dramatic in Irish history.

McKevitt was last week served with a writ by the families of 29 people who were killed in the Real IRA bomb attack on Omagh in 1998.

Another four men are also being sued for damages in an historic civil legal action.

One of those four, Liam Campbell, 39, from Dundalk, County Louth, appeared before the Special Criminal Court in a separate hearing today on charges of membership of an illegal organisation.

The case against him will return to the court for mention on October 8.

He is currently being held alongside McKevitt in Portlaoise high security prison after confessing to membership of the Real IRA earlier this year.

McKevitt arrived at the court half an hour before the hearing accompanied by a police escort and an Irish Army unit.

He said nothing and sat impassively during the hearing which lasted just a few minutes.

When the trial begins the defence is set to make allegations that the intelligence and security services in the US and Britain made multi-million pound payments to David Rupert, an agent who infiltrated the Real IRA.

The defence will allege that Rupert, the key prosecution witness against McKevitt, was paid almost £4m (€6.4m) by the FBI and British Intelligence - initially as expenses but eventually in the form of a “salary”, according to recent reports.

Mr McCann told the court that witnesses would need significant notice as they might be outside the jurisdiction.

Mr Justice Johnson added that the case would depend to a large extent on the evidence of one witness.

Rupert began passing information about republican terrorists to the FBI in 1994 and is said to have been reporting directly to MI5 by 1997.

He is now living with his wife Maureen Browne on a US witness protection programme.

McKevitt’s trial, which was initially due to begin this summer, was adjourned after defence lawyers raised concerns about the disclosure of documents.

During the hearing McKevitt’s wife, Bernadette Sands - sister of the 1981 IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands - watched from the public gallery.