A 52-YEAR-OLD old car breaker from the Waterside area of Derry appeared before the local Magistrate’s Court yesterday charged with offences linked to the dissident republican 200lb car bomb explosion outside the city’s PSNI headquarters on August 3rd.
Thomas Christopher Nash, Iveagh Park, Prehen, is charged with possessing a .22 rifle and 140 rounds of ammunition.
He is also charged with possessing an imitation AK47 assault rifle and an imitation P228 pistol as well as possessing a CS spray canister without the authority of the secretary of state.
All of the offences, which the defendant denies, are alleged to have occurred on August 9th, six days after the bomb explosion in Derry.
Last week Philip O’Donnell (42) from Baldrick Crescent in the city was remanded in custody when he appeared in court charged with carrying out the bomb attack.
A detective chief inspector from the PSNI’s major investigation team told District Judge Barney McElholm that Mr Nash was arrested in relation to the bombing.
He said police officers searched the defendant’s marital home as well as a second address where he lived.
“In the marital address police found the butt of an AK47 assault rifle hidden in the drawer of a bedroom cupboard.
At the second address where he lived officers found in a garage a .22 rifle, ammunition, a silencer, a sighting scope, three balaclavas and a pair of gloves.
“We also searched a pillar to the rear of the house. The pillar had a lid cemented on to it and when the lid was removed officers found a replica AK47 assault rifle from which the butt had been removed”, he said.
The defendant was remanded in custody and will appear in court again for a video remand hearing on September 9th.