A WEST Belfast man who spent six years fighting extradition from the Republic has been refused bail to return to Dublin for his daughter's First Communion.
Frankie Lanigan (55) had been living in Dublin for 15 years using another name.
The former kick-boxer is accused of the May 1998 murder of John Knocker, who was shot dead in the car park of the Glengannon Hotel in Dungannon, Co Tyrone, and possession of the 9mm Browning pistol said to have been used in the attack.
A lawyer at Belfast High Court said that Lanigan's brother was prepared to lodge a cash surety and to travel with him to Dublin over the weekend for the family occasion.
The lawyer, while acknowledging that Lanigan had fled to the Republic and then contested his extradation, felt "his life was very much under threat at the time by factors who saw him as responsible" for the murder.
However he added that Lanigan had previously been on bail for more than three years and shown he could honour bail conditions.
Crown lawyer Robin Steer said Lanigan had absconded and had been living under an assumed name for some 14 years, obtaining a driving licence, bank account, and social security number.
Then when eventually arrested, he fought his extradition, claiming that as a republican he would not get a fair trial.
Refusing bail Mr Justice Colton said despite the "well founded and well presented" bona fide application, there was a clear history were Lanigan had absconded and obtained a new identity, not only in name, but also with a bank account and tax and national insurance, showed "a sophisticated attempt at evasion".
A previous court heard Lanigan's days on the run, living and working in Dublin as self-employed barber Ciaran McCrory, came to an end with his arrest in January 2013 after a DNA test on a coffee cup seized by an undercover Garda detective, established his true identity.
Although a European Arrest Warrant was issued, it was challenged, reaching even the European Court of Justice.
During the multiple challenges Lanigan claimed his life would be at risk from loyalist and republican paramilitaries if extradited and that on the night of Mr Knocker shooting, it was he who was fact the person the target.
