Kate Carroll at trial with son
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
THE trial of those accused of the murder of the Banbridge PSNI officer killed while on duty began yesterday (Monday).
The case was originally due to go ahead on 14 December, however, it was adjourned after one of the defendants sacked their legal team on the eve of the trial.
John Paul Wootton, of Collindale, Lurgan and Brendan McConville, of Aldervale, Tullygally, are charged with the murder of Constable Stephen Carroll in Craigavon on 9 March 2009.
McConville, 40, and 20-year-old Wootton are also charged with possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Both men deny the charges against them. Wootton's mother Sharon, of Collindale, Lurgan, is also charged with perverting the course of justice by giving false information to police and removing a computer from her home.
On the first day of the trial, Constable Carroll's widow Kate was joined at Belfast Crown Court by her son Shane and Constable Carroll's mother, father, sister and brother.
Constable Carroll, a grandfather with 24 years' service in the police, was close to the end of his 12-hour shift when a gunman shot him in the head in his car in the Lismore Manor area of Craigavon.
Just two days before he was murdered, Sappers Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey were shot dead at Massereene Army Barracks in Antrim. The trial continues.
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