Murder suspect's phone busy around time of deaths, court told

A man accused of the murder of two soldiers made a flurry of phone calls around the time of the killing, a court heard today.

Colin Duffy and Brian Shivers deny the murder of Sappers Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimkar, who were shot outside their army base in Antrim.

Shivers’ phone was recovered by police.

Prosecuting barrister Tessa Kitson said: “The significance is simply that there was a lot of use and activity of that particular mobile phone which we say involves Mr Shivers during that time.”

Sappers Quinsey (aged 23), and Azimkar (aged 21), were shot dead by the Real IRA as they collected pizzas with comrades outside Massereene Army base in Antrim town in March 2009.

Duffy, 44, from Forest Glade in Lurgan, Co Armagh, and Shivers, 46, from Sperrin Mews, in Magherafelt, Co Derry, deny two charges of murder and the attempted murder of six others – three soldiers, two pizza delivery drivers and a security guard.

Messages from another mobile phone suspected to have been used by the killers were also disclosed to the court.

A voicemail was played to the court which appeared to link the car to the shooting as the men made their escape.

The phone recorded two voices talking following the killing, close to where the vehicle was abandoned and later recovered by police, yielding DNA evidence which the prosecution say links the accused to the crime.