Charges against 12th man dropped over illegal dissident republican Easter parade

A man accused of taking part in an illegal republican parade in Londonderry on Easter Monday 2018 has had the charge against him dropped.

Christopher Gillen, 63, from Cornshell Fields in Derry was charged with taking part in the parade in the Creggan area on 2 April 2018.

A solicitor for the Public Prosecution Service told Derry Magistrates’ Court the case was being withdrawn.

The PPS did not give a reason for withdrawing the case.

Last month eleven men were found guilty of the same charge and fined £750 each.

Then the judge described the events surrounding the parade as “unacceptable”.

Mr Gillen’s case had been due to be heard at that time but was adjourned to enable the resolution of a legal issue.

The charge against each of the accused read that on “02/04/2018, took part in a public procession at Central Drive, Derry, in respect of which the requirements of section 6 of the Public Processions (Northern Ireland) Act 1998 had not been satisfied, contrary to Section 6(7)(a) of the Public Processions (Northern Ireland) Act 1998”.

Those found guilty were:

Joseph Patrick Barr, 30, of Sackville Street;

Andrew Carlin, 32, of Woodvale Mews, Eglinton;

Gearoid Peter Cavanagh, 30, of Northland Road;

Jason Lee Anna Ceulemans, 47,, Long Tower Court;

Gary Hayden, 46, of Tyrconnell Street;

William Martin McDonnell, 32, of Harvey Street;

Paul McIntyre, 51, of Ballymagowan Park;

Patrick Mellon, 27, of John Field Place;

John Patrick Nash, 65, of Fergleen Park;

Christopher Paul O’Kane, 45, of Iniscairn Road.

All 11 denied the charges but were convicted on the basis of CCTV footage against them and fined £750 each.

A number of the accused have already launched appeals to Derry County Court over their convictions.

In the wake of last year’s parade rioting erupted in Creggan as youths attacked police vehicles with a barrage of petrol bombs, setting ablaze a PSNI landrover fitted with a CCTV camera.

The defendants were arrested after a Saoradh organised parade through Creggan on Easter Monday, 2018.

Police later raided the then headquarters of Saoradh at Junior McDaid House in Chamberlain Street close to the Bogside.

This year’s Easter Monday parade was cancelled after the New IRA shot dead journalist Lyra McKee on Thursday, April 18, in Creggan.

Tags: