Courts

Businessman charged with terrorist offences over bomb hoax targeting Simon Coveney refused bail

Darren Service (42) has been in custody for 17 months on charges of preparation of terrorist acts

Simon Coveney was minister for foreign affairs at the time of the incident. Photograph: Damien Storan /PA Wire

Ashleigh McDonald
Tue Aug 8 2023 - 16:10

A Belfast businessman charged with terrorist offences arising from a bomb hoax targeting Minister for Enterprise Simon Coveney was refused bail on Tuesday.

The application to release Darren Service (42) was made, and rejected, at Belfast Crown Court.

The gym owner, from Ballysillan Road in the north of the city, has been in custody for 17 months on charges of preparation of terrorist acts, hijacking and placing an article causing a bomb hoax.

It is this passage of time, as well as health issues concerning his young daughter, that prompted the bid for bail.

READ MORE

On March 25th, 2022, a workman was threatened and forced to transport a device placed in the back of his vehicle by two masked men to a peace-building event on the Crumlin Road.

Mr Coveney, who at that time was minister for foreign affairs, was attending the event at the Houben Centre in the Holy Cross Church. After the van driver alerted police regarding the device in his van, the centre was evacuated in what was later described as a hoax bomb alert.

It is the Crown’s case that the two masked men who hijacked the van were driven to the scene and dropped off by Mr Service. A prosecutor told Judge Mark Reel the bail application was opposed.

She described last March’s incident as terrorist offences “carried out by the UVF”.

The prosecutor said that when Mr Service’s home was searched in the aftermath of the incident, officers seized £100,000 located in a safe as well as balaclavas, a replica firearm, UVF pins and luxury watches.

Telling Judge Reel “the risks of reoffending are embedded in this case”, she also highlighted concerns of interfering with witnesses and said currently “no bail conditions will manage any risks involved.”

Calling the 17 months Mr Service has now spend in custody as “disproportionate” and “excessive”, defence barrister Joseph O’Keefe said that after the incident his client attended with police voluntarily and was “not sought out”.

After listening to submissions from the Crown and defence, Judge Reel concluded that the risks of reoffending and interfering with witnesses “continue to exist” and refused the application.

He did, however, note that a legal bid to dismiss the charges against Mr Service is being held next month and “at that juncture it may well be appropriate to revisit the issues in this application”.

LATEST STORIES