Northern Ireland

Adrian Ismay murder trial: Booby-trap explosion was captured on CCTV

 Christopher Robinson is on trial at Belfast Crown Court for the murder of prison officer Adrian Ismay
 Christopher Robinson is on trial at Belfast Crown Court for the murder of prison officer Adrian Ismay  Christopher Robinson is on trial at Belfast Crown Court for the murder of prison officer Adrian Ismay

The trial of a west Belfast man accused of murdering prison officer Adrian Ismay (52) heard today that the booby-trap explosion which ultimately claimed his life was captured on CCTV.

Belfast Crown Court was told that in the aftermath of the March 2016 attack outside the east Belfast home of the father-of-three, police searched the local area for CCTV footage.

A detective constable from the serious crime branch said he reviewed footage from four sites, including one from a funeral parlour. 

He said that shortly after 7am that March morning he saw Mr Ismay's blue VW van drive towards Cregagh Road.

However, he told the non-jury trial of Christopher Alphonson Robinson that the warder's van never made it to the end of the street "because there was an explosion".

Although seriously injured in the no-warning under-car blast, Mr Ismay initially survived the attack, spending four days in hospital before dying from a heart attack a week later on March 15 after complaining of chest pains.

Trial judge Mr Justice McAlinden heard that while the CCTV footage showed the coming and goings of various pedestrians and vehicles in the hours leading up to the explosion, only two were of interest.

One was a taxi, which was quickly eliminated from inquiries. The other was a red Citroen C3 car that drove past Mr Ismay's home shortly after 3am, before returning, parking up, its headlights out.

Moments later someone ran down the street and got into the rear of the C3 before driving off, its headlights still switched off. The prosecution claim that the Citroen car belonged to the sister-in-law of 48-year-old Robinson. 

Earlier, Northern Ireland's former State Pathologist Prof Jack Crane revealed that the "major significant factor" in the warder's sudden death were the shrapnel wounds he suffered in the booby-trap bombing 11 days earlier.

The now retired pathologist said that while Mr Ismay died from a pulmonary embolism, it was caused by a large coiled blood clot blocking the main arterty to the heart and a second clot lodged in the right lung.

Prof Crane said Mr Ismay suffered a shrapnel wound to his right eye, but it was a wound to the left calf, behind his knee, which lead to his immobility and the development of deep vein thrombosis.

Sections of this thrombosis broke off and travelled to his heart and lung.

That blocking of the main pulmonary artery measured some 19cm long, by 5cm in diameter, and although he was given "clot-buster drugs" when rushed to hospital suffering from chest pains, he failed to respond to the treatment.

Read more:

  • Murdered prison officer Adrian Ismay joked with wife after explosion
  • Funeral of murdered prison officer Adrian Ismay takes place
  • Family of Adrian Ismay ‘utterly devastated' by prison officer's murder

Prof Crane said that having survived the blast on March 4 2016 outside his Hillsborough Drive home, the prison warder was treated in hospital before being released four days later.

He said that since returning home Mr Ismay would have spent his time resting with his leg elevated and that he would have been fairly immobile.

He was being treated by his family doctor, who reported the day before he died that he was suffering from post traumatic stress and complained of flash-backs, poor sleep and anxiety.

Prison officer Adrian Ismay died in March 2016
Prison officer Adrian Ismay died in March 2016 Prison officer Adrian Ismay died in March 2016

Under cross-examination by defence QC Arthur Harvey, Prof Crane agreed that it was the blood clot caused by his immobility which led to his death, and that this "can occur suddenly and without warning".

The professor said the detatchment of the clots, he thought, would have been "very sudden", adding later that it was "the retention of that shrapnel" which had restricted Mr Ismay's immobility.

When asked by Mr Justice McAlinden if the shrapnel from the bomb blast had contributed to his immobility and in turn was a contributing factor in his death, Prof Crane replied: "While not a contributory factor, it was the major significant factor".

Later the court heard from a forensic expert who said the explosives used in the blast were of Semtex origin and the booby-trap device had been attached by magnets similar to those used to secure signs on a car.

The device was mounted on the driver's side, slightly behind where the driver's seat would have been.

On trial denying the murder is Christopher Alphonson Robinson (48), of Aspen Park, in the Poleglass area of west Belfast.

He also denies possession of the booby-trap device, and providing his sister-in-law's Citroen C3 car knowing or suspecting it would be used in terrorism.

At hearing.