Officer relocated after Carroll murder
A serving police officer has had to be relocated because the teenager accused of murdering Constable Stephen Carroll had gathered information on him, the High Court has heard.
The disclosure was made as prosecutors opposed a bail application by 18-year-old John Paul Wootton.
The court also heard that forensic tests are still to be carried out on more than 600 items seized by detectives investigating the dissident republican killing.
A Crown lawyer claimed written and photographic material has been seized which links the suspect to the terrorist organisation behind the assassination in March.
Kate McKay said this included note books containing minutes of Continuity IRA meetings, and a computer document with promotional flyers and a recruitment drive.
Wootton, of Collingdale in Lurgan, is charged with the murder of Constable Carroll, who was ambushed as he responded to a 999 call in Craigavon.
He is also accused of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, collecting information likely to be of use to terrorists, and membership of the Continuity IRA.
Bail was refused by a judge who described the alleged evidence against Wootton as a “formidable body of circumstances”.
According to the prosecution a Citroen Saxo car owned by the accused – then aged 17 – was parked 150 yards from the scene of Constable Carroll’s murder and driven off within minutes of the shooting.
Electronic surveillance was used to track the vehicle, which has since been seized and forensically examined, the court heard.
Clothing and cartridge discharge residue was recovered from the car. A sweat shirt belonging to Wootton was said to contain some of the residue.
Mrs McKay claimed more particles consistent with the ammunition used in the shooting was found on a brown coat retrieved in the boot of the Saxo.
This coat has been forensically linked to former Sinn Fein councillor Brendan McConville, 38, of Glenholme Avenue, Lurgan, who is also charged with the murder.
Mrs McKay added that following his arrest Wootton declined to give an account to police.
Andrew Moriarty, defending, argued there was no DNA evidence linking his client to the scene of the shooting.
He also claimed a scientific report established that some of the cartridge discharge residue could not have come from the murder weapon.
Refusing bail, Mr Justice McLaughlin ruled it was not a case where the accused should be released.
