A man suspected of killing a British undercover soldier in Northern Ireland more than 30 years ago appeared in court today.
Kevin Crilly (59) went to America in the weeks after Captain Robert Nairac was executed by an IRA interrogation gang in May 1977. Mr Crilly was interviewed by detectives after the killing.
He wore glasses and a dark leather jacket during a two-minute appearance in the dock at Newry Magistrates’ Court, Co Down.
Magistrate Paul Copeland heard prosecutors had agreed to a two-week remand on continuing bail. He told the defendant: “On December 2nd you are due back in court and the matter will be reviewed on that date.”
Crilly remained in the United States for nearly three decades until he returned to his home town of Jonesborough, Co Armagh, using a different name. But he was arrested last year and was charged with kidnapping and falsely imprisoning the 29-year-old Grenadier Guardsman.
Last week, at a routine bail hearing at Newry courthouse, prosecutors told Mr Crilly, from Lower Foughill Road, that he would now face a murder charge.
Cpt Nairac, originally from Gloucestershire, was questioned, tortured and then shot dead after being snatched from the car park of the Three Steps Inn at Drumintee outside Jonesborough and driven across the Border to an isolated field at Ravensdale, Co Louth.
His remains have never been found amid claims from former IRA members that the body was disposed of at a local meat processing plant.
In the years after his disappearance, three men were convicted of his murder, but police have always said they were looking for more suspects.
PA