Bail plea adjourned for associate of Adair

A second bail application by a close associate of Johnny Adair was adjourned in the High Court in Belfast yesterday.

A second bail application by a close associate of Johnny Adair was adjourned in the High Court in Belfast yesterday.

Mr Andre Shoukri (25) was refused bail on a firearms charge last October after a judge referred to the evidence by a police officer that it was believed he was the UDA brigadier in north Belfast.

The judge said if Mr Shoukri was freed there was a risk he would resume his links with the UDA which, the police officer told him, had been involved in an internal feud, as well as in sectarian murders, racketeering, drugs and other illegal activities.

Mr Shoukri's new application was based on a recent judicial ruling in another case that defence lawyers must be given a copy of intelligence material relied on by police when opposing bail.

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A prosecution lawyer asked for an adjournment to enable police to decide what intelligence documents they proposed to rely on.

Lord Justice McCollum said it was his habit to pay little attention to intelligence matters based on hearsay.

"I go by what is the alleged offence, the applicant's record and the general surrounding circumstances," said the judge.

"And the court cannot close its eyes to what is going on in parts of Belfast." After a short adjournment, the prosecution lawyer said police would make a decision in the next few days about what documents, if any, they intended to rely on. Lord Justice McCollum adjourned the application until Monday.

Mr Shoukri, from Sunningdale Gardens, Belfast, is charged with possessing a pistol and ammunition with intent to endanger life following his arrest at Rathcoole last September. His first bail hearing was told he had the gun for his own protection following threats to his life which had been conveyed to him by police.