‘We’re sitting in full view of masked men knowing they’re loyalist paramilitaries’: Murdered Belfast man’s family on recent court ordeal

Ten feet away from where his father’s suspected killer was in the dock, Kieran Fox could see masked men.

He was already seated in the front row of the public gallery in Court 12 of the Laganside court complex in Belfast when he heard a “commotion”.

“We glanced round and saw all these guys coming in with their hoods up and scarves over their faces and sunglasses on. I thought: ‘What the hell is going on here?’” says Fox.

“At the start I thought it was a joke but the longer it went on without being challenged, it was like: ‘Who are these guys?’”

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The incident last month sparked an outcry; the head of the Northern Ireland judiciary, Lady Chief Justice Siobhan Keegan, ordered an inquiry, saying it was “not acceptable”.

It was the first day in a double murder trial. Former loyalist paramilitary-turned-supergrass Gary Haggarty was giving evidence against an Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) associate, James Smyth, who is accused of murdering Fox’s father, Eamon, and his workmate Gary Convie in sectarian killings in 1994.

Smyth denies the charges.

For three hours, about six men out of a 20-strong gang wore face coverings and sat directly behind the Fox and Convie families, who listened to harrowing evidence of how their loved ones’ murders were planned.

“Your emotions are high going into court. The alleged gunman is sitting in front of you – the only thing separating you is two sheets of glass. And we’re sitting in full view of masked men knowing they’re loyalist paramilitaries. We can’t see them but they can see us,” says Fox.

“The glass is reflective so you could see these guys behind you. Every movement they made, you could see what they were doing. There was one in particular who had a wee Union Jack beanie hat on ... a mask over his face and a pair of sunglasses on. You were holding off between breaks in the court proceedings – the likes of going to the toilet. But they were just getting up and coming and going as they wanted.

“I personally waited between breaks. I wouldn’t have felt safe just going out on my own.”

Police and court security staff were present but it wasn’t until the families’ solicitor, Pádraig Ó Muirigh, formally raised concerns with police about the “intolerable” situation before the lunchtime recess that action was taken.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) defended its position: “At the first opportunity, in discussion with court staff, police made the judge aware of this and he directed that the face coverings be removed. No further incidents have occurred.”

The Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service has commenced a review.

Condemnation was widespread, with leading victims’ support group Wave describing the display as “retriggering” for bereaved families who suffered loss during the Troubles.

One question persisted: how was this allowed to happen?

Figures obtained by The Irish Times from Stormont’s Department of Justice (DoJ) reveal there have been 97 convictions for offences relating to intimidation of witnesses or jurors in Northern Ireland between 2018 and 2022.

Separate research by the department on the Victim and Witness Experience of the Northern Ireland Criminal Justice System shows a “significant fall” in respondents who “felt safe” before going to court (down from 79 per cent in 2019-2020 to 62 per cent in 2022-2023) and at victim level (down from 71 per cent to 49 per cent).

Of those who said they felt intimidated, 15 per cent reported that the intimidation had occurred either in the court building or in the courtroom.

For Ó Muirigh, the statistics are “astounding”.

“I was aware intimidation was happening in the courts. I didn’t realise it was as across-the-board and as prominent as that,” he says.

In his 20 years of practising law, Ó Muirigh has never witnessed the presence of masked men in a courtroom.

“I have obviously seen people with their faces covered going into court or leaving it – but not sitting in the back of the courtroom, no. It created a very intimidating atmosphere,” he says.

“Even though Court 12 is the most spacious in Laganside, it doesn’t mean we’re not in close proximity to each other; in fact, one of them actually got up after the mid-morning break and left his crew and sat right next to us. He was masked.”

The solicitor says there were police in the courtroom and, at one point, one of the court staff walked down to a family member to ask him to put his phone away.

“He had to go past masked men to do that and didn’t say a word to them. I couldn’t believe it,” he says.

The academic and peace activist Monica McWilliams, who is a patron of Wave and sits on the Independent Reporting Commission, which reports on progress with ending paramilitarism, said the incident was a reminder of the “shocking intimidation” she witnessed in courtrooms during the Troubles.

In court for the first trial for sectarian gang rape, she remembered the accused “standing laughing” with “all their mates sitting in the gallery”.

“I remember thinking: ‘Why isn’t the court saying something to those guys?’ who were whistling and laughing and clapping,” says McWilliams.

“We talk about a victim-centred approach; they are re-victimised in the very place they’re told is not only a court of law but is meant to be a court of justice. It’s outrageous.”

“Good on her,” says McWilliams of the Lady Chief Justice’s decision to order the inquiry.

“The court staff need to be trained in advance in terms of knowing what to do and to ensure this never happens again,” says the former politician.

She believes the masked men in court were “putting out a warning: this is how we intend to act and continue to act”.

“This is coercive control that we have seen embedded in some communities; but this is the first time we have seen the coercive control acted out in the court of the land,” she says. “It’s something that will now make people sit up.”