Charges dropped against Northern Bank raid accused

Charges against two men accused over the £26.5m (€39m) Northern Bank robbery were dramatically withdrawn in Belfast today.

Dominic McEvoy (aged 23), a builder from Co Down, was told he would not have to stand trial for the heist in December 2004.

Allegations that another man, Martin McAliskey (aged 40), withheld information and attempted to pervert the course of justice were also dropped.

Solicitors for both men protested at the city’s Magistrates’ Court, and later Northern Ireland’s Chief Constable Hugh Orde, admitted: “It’s a setback.”

The Public Prosecution Service decided McEvoy, of Mullandra Park, Kilcoo, no longer had a case to answer after studying a police file.

But a third man, Northern Bank staff member Chris Ward (aged 25), from Poleglass, west Belfast, is still accused of the robbery.

He was remanded on bail to appear again later this month.