A TRIAL centring on the double murder of two friends in Belfast more than 15 years ago resumed at the city's Crown Court today.
Gerard Lagan is accused of using his mobile phone to lure Edward Burns and Joseph Jones to their deaths in the early hours of March 2007.
The 38-year old, with an address at Raheen Close in the Tallagh area of Dublin, has denied the murder charges and a non-jury trial commenced earlier this year - but was adjourned to allow further investigation into mobile phone evidence.
The hearing resumed today when it emerged that mobile phone evidence relied upon by the police was incomplete.
An officer from the Telecomms Liaison Unit was recalled to the witness stand and was questioned by a defence barrister about documentation relating to three relevant mobile phones.
The information was supplied to the PSNI by O2 and included itemised bills and data regarding both incoming and outgoing calls as well as text messages.
As she took the officer through the documents, the defence barrister questioned him about apparent discrepancies.
These included data being sent which failed to register telephone calls and their duration in the early hours of March 12 2007 and two different versions of the same itemised bill being sent and used as evidence.
Regarding the relevant time period, the barrister also asked the officer about "a gap in the data that you asked for and what must have been available".
The officer accepted the information sent by O2 did not include all the data which was requested and that some of it was wrong.
Mobile phone analysis was carried out in the wake of the double murder.
Mr Burns (36) was shot dead and his body found in a car in the Bog Meadows area of Belfast at around 4.30am on March 12, 2007.
Several hours later, the battered remains of his friend Joseph Jones (38) was found in an alleyway in the Ardoyne area.
At hearing.
