Duffy charged with IRA membership

Prominent republican Colin Duffy has been charged with conspiring to murder members of the security forces in the North.

Two other men were separately accused of trying to murder police travelling to the scene of a loyalist protest in Belfast earlier this month. Shots were fired at the officers’ vehicles.

The trio appeared at Belfast Magistrates’ Court surrounded by prison officers and armed riot police but did not speak during the brief hearing.

They waved to a crowd in the gallery who noisily indicated support as they were led away to prison to await their trial.

Duffy, 47, from Lurgan in Co Armagh, was also accused of membership of the IRA and conspiring with the other defendants, Alex McCrory and Henry Fitzsimmons, to possess firearms and explosives with intent to endanger life or cause serious damage to property since the start of this year.

There were no legal submissions. A detective connected them to the charges.