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Syria terror case jury fail to reach verdict

Eamon Bradley. Picture by Alan Lewis
Eamon Bradley. Picture by Alan Lewis Eamon Bradley. Picture by Alan Lewis

A JURY has failed to reach a definitive verdict in the case of a Derry man accused of terrorism offences in the Middle East three years ago.

It is the second time that Eamon Bradley's trial had ended with a hung jury.

Eamon Bradley (28) of Benview estate in Coshquin, denied three charges.

They include attending a training camp in Syria and receiving weapons.

His trial was told that he admitted travelling to Syria in February 2014, had taken part in battles and was "proud" of what he had done.

The jury also heard that he could dismantle and rebuild an AK47 assault rifle. However, he told the court he had not fired the weapon.

At the end of the first trial in February, a Derry Crown Court jury acquitted him of possessing explosives, but were hung on the more substantive charges of attending terrorist training camps in Syria and receiving instruction in the use of weapons and explosives.

Today, following an 11-day trial, over five weeks in Omagh, another Derry Crown Court jury, also told Judge Brian Sherrard that even if granted further time, there was no prospect of them reaching any verdict either.

Then through their foreperson when asked if they had reach any verdict in which at least ten of them were agreed, she replied "No".

The first indication of a possible split in the ranks of the jury of six men and five women came just 10 minutes after they were asked to retire and begin deliberations on Monday.

In a note sent into court regarding clarification on some of the evidence, the jury also inquired if they had to bring in verdicts on which they were "unanimous".

As was the case with Mr Bradley's last trial, it was left to the prosecutor to ask that proceedings be adjourned for a week when the case will be "mentioned again".

The "bedrock" of the prosecution case was that Mr Bradley's alleged confessions, during interviews in which he told detectives of joining Syrian rebels opposed to President Bashar Assad and Islamic State, were true.

However, his defence claim that alleged admissions were unreliable, given that he is unsure of the correct spelling of his own first name and has difficulty in remembering his date of birth.

The defence contends that far from being a Muslim fundamentalist, Mr Bradley's only crime is that of being an attention-seeking fantasist.