A Co Armagh woman who provided a false alibi for a man linked to the murder of prison officer David Black was spared a jail term yesterday.
Fiona McFadden (30) was handed a suspended prison sentence for perverting the course of justice after she admitted lying about the movements of her ex-partner Sean McVeigh in a "misguided act of loyalty".
McFadden, a mother-of-one from Killough Gardens in Lurgan, told officers investigating the shooting that Sean McVeigh had been 'trick or treating' her and their daughter between the hours of 4pm and 9.30pm on October 31 2012.
Mr Black (52) - the first prison officer to be murdered in Northern Ireland in 20 years - was targeted as he drove to work at Maghaberry jail on the morning of November 1 2012.
The father-of-two was driving along the M1 between Portadown and Lurgan at around 7.30am when a gunman opened fire from a Toyota that pulled up alongside him.
Sean McVeigh was arrested and spent time in custody but all charges levelled against him were dropped by the PPS last July.
Outlining the Crown case against McFadden, senior prosecuting barrister Terence Mooney said at an "early stage" in the murder investigation, police called to her home on November 3.
McFadden then made a false oral statement regarding the movements of Sean McVeigh between 4pm and 9.30pm on the day before the killing.
Telling Belfast Crown Court it was not motivated by "anything other than loyalty", Mr Mooney said: "There is no evidence to suggest she has connections to or has sympathies with the terrorist organisation that carried out this murder."
He also revealed that in November 2012, McFadden was no longer in a relationship with Mr McVeigh, but he was the father of her child.
Mr Mooney said the false information did not impact or influence the outcome of the investigation, but police time was taken up "arresting and interviewing" her.
She initially denied the charge, but after she was re-arraigned yesterday on a single charge of doing an act intending to pervert the course of justice, McFadden entered a guilty plea.
Defence barrister Patrick Lyttle she was an otherwise "entirely law-abiding young woman" who appeared before the court with a completely clear criminal record.
Mr Lyttle said McFadden's involvement "arose more out of naivety rather than anything else", and said: "This is a young woman who will not be back before the court again."
The senior barrister also spoke of the three-year period between the murder and yesterday's court hearing, which has had a "substantial effect" on her.
Handing McFadden an 18-month prison sentence, which was suspended for three years, Judge David McFarland said he accepted she gave a false oral account to police as a "misguided act of loyalty to the father of your child".
