Man denies Belfast taxi driver murder

A Belfast man pleaded not guilty at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today to the murder of a taxi driver in Belfast in 2007.

Gerard Mackin (aged 28), a native of the Whiterock area of west Belfast, with an address at Raheen Close, Tallaght, Dublin denied the murder of Mr Edward Burns, a taxi driver and 36-year-old father of five, of Prospect Park, Belfast, at Bog Meadow, Falls Road, Belfast on March 12, 2007.

He also pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of Mr Damien O' Neill, the possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and causing serious harm to Mr O' Neill on the same date.

Mackin's trial is a retrial after his conviction in 2008 for murder was quashed by the Court of Criminal Appeal and a retrial was ordered.

He was the first person convicted in a Dublin court for an alleged murder in Belfast under a rarely used cross-border anti-terrorist law.

Mackin's conviction was quashed after the appeal court ruled that crucial prosecution evidence had not been properly proven during his original trial.

Mackin last week opted for trial in the Republic under the Criminal Law Jurisdiction Act of 1976 which allows suspects to be tried in the Republic for alleged offences in Britain or the North. The law has only been used on four other occasions since it was introduced.

Mackin was remanded in custody until December when the prosecution is expected to outline the case against him.