Supergrass questioned on ‘glaring errors’
Supergrass brothers Robert and David Ian Stewart repeatedly failed to name one of the accused – Darren Moore – as the gunmen’s driver in the murder of UDA rival Tommy English, a court has heard.
Moore’s QC Charles Adair suggested that this was “either a coincidence, or two glaring errors”, on their part, as he questioned 37-year-old Robert Stewart, about the mental state of his younger brother on Tuesday.
Stewart admitted that on 21 occasions he had failed to mention Moore before putting him into the frame.
“So we should accept your 22nd version and leave the other 21?” Mr Adair asked.
“Accept what you want,” Stewart told Belfast Crown Court.
Stewart, who rejected what he was saying was “nonsense”, claimed that while it was “obviously a glaring error”, he knew that it was going to be used against him in court and that he “would be ripped into”.
As he continued to question the self-confessed terrorist, Mr Adair put it to him that he was “just making this up as you go along, I would suggest to you”.
“I would suggest not,” replied Stewart.
Later Stewart told trial judge Mr Justice Gillen that he accepted not mentioning Moore was a “gaping error”, but that he was just trying to explain how it occurred and that he had “no reason to lie about any of that”.
Still later he told the court: “I have accepted for two days now it’s a glaring error”.
Although Stewart had previously refused to be drawn on his brother’s mental state while being questioned by the authorities, he also revealed that earlier this year, in the months before their release from prison, his brother David Ian “was in a bad way”.
Stewart said they were trying to get the therapy sessions needed before the Parole Commissioners could sanction their eventual release last month, and that “Ian was struggling at this stage”, and was suffering from being bipolar.
However, while he accepted the authorities were told that, if a date for their release was not fixed, they would reconsider giving evidence, Stewart denied attempting to blackmail officials or trying to force their hand.
“You can’t blackmail the unblackmailable… if that is a word.
“You can’t force anybody’s hand as there’s no hand to force,” said Stewart.
The case has been adjourned until Thursday when Stewart will again be in the witness box, only this time to be quizzed by Arthur Harvey QC for Alex ‘Poco’ Wood, the fifth accused in the dock.
