A car dealer's suicide could have been a "useful asset" to an alleged IRA Canary Wharf bomb conspirator when questioned by police after his arrest, an Old Bailey court heard yesterday.
Mr Patrick Goodfellow hanged himself two weeks before Mr Patrick McKinley (34) was arrested and questioned about two cars bought during an alleged IRA "dummy run" for the bombing, which ended the IRA's 18-month ceasefire, the prosecution said.
Mr McKinley said the cars had been brought into his Northern Ireland workshop by Mr Good fellow. They were in Mr McKinley's hands within 48 hours of the "dummy run". The prosecution said Mr McKinley had told police he had bought one of the cars from Mr Goodfellow.
Mr McKinley, a garage owner, is alleged to have played an important but background role in converting a lorry into the transporter which was finally used as a mobile bomb for the Docklands explosion in February 1996, in which two people were killed.
Mr McKinley, from Newry, together with Mr James McArdle (29), from Crossmaglen, have denied conspiring to cause an explosion between October 30th, 1995 and February 10th, 1996. Mr McArdle is also charged with murdering Mr Inam Bashir and Mr John Jeffries on February 9th, 1996. Mr John Bevan, prosecuting, said it was not alleged that Mr McKinley had been on the "dummy run" a month before the blast. The two cars were bought at an auction in Carlisle as a cover for the run, Mr Bevan said. One was taken back on the transporter to allegedly provide cover for its true purpose - to bring back tons of home-made explosive later.
The cars provided a link between Mr McKinley and Mr McArdle, Mr Bevan alleged.
"Evidence shows clearly that the two cars bought by the two occupants of the bomb lorry at Carlisle were in Mr McKinley's hands within 48 hours - having returned by separate routes.
"It is our case that McArdle was one of the occupants of the bomb lorry at the auction and therefore must have been responsible for driving one of those two cars back - whether or not Patrick Goodfellow intervenes in between."
The prosecution claims that Mr McArdle has been shown to be a central figure in the bombing by his thumbprint, which appeared on three separate items linked to the bombing.
The person who left those thumbprints was known to the police as Triple Thumbprint Man, said Mr Bevan. He was not identified until the fingerprints of Mr McArdle, arrested in Northern Ireland last April, were found to be a match.
The trial resumes today.