A man being questioned about the £26.5 million ( €39 million) Northern Bank robbery was still in police custody last night after a judge rejected a bid to release him.
Chris Ward (24), Poleglass, west Belfast, an employee of the bank who was held hostage by the robbery gang, today makes legal history as the longest suspect kept in custody in Northern Ireland without being charged.
At 10.14pm last night Mr Ward began his eighth day of detention at Antrim custody suite where detectives have been questioning him about the record-breaking robbery nearly a year ago.
New powers under the Criminal Justice Act allow the PSNI to hold suspects for up to 14 days but only after successive 48- hour extensions have been authorised by a judge.
The extension granted on Monday evening - when Mr Ward appeared by video link - was followed by an emergency sitting in the High Court at 1.15am yesterday when Mr Justice Hart granted leave for a judicial review of the circumstances in which Mr Ward was being held.
At the full hearing later yesterday, Frank O'Donoghue QC argued that the extension was invalid because Judge Gibson had failed to protect Mr Ward's rights when he excluded him and his solicitor from the hearing while police were putting sensitive information before the court.
"There is no basis on which he should be detained further, and he should be released forthwith," said Mr O'Donoghue.
Mr Justice Hart said he was satisfied that Mr Ward's lawyers had failed to establish the grounds on which the application was brought and therefore it had to be dismissed.
It had been argued that Judge Gibson should have explained to Mr Ward and his solicitor the nature of the matter that police did not wish them to hear.
"But to do so would undermine the whole basis of the application," said Mr Justice Hart, who held that Judge Gibson had a discretion in the matter and had exercised properly.
The judge also lifted his ban on police continuing to question Mr Ward which he had imposed while the judicial review had still to be resolved.
Mr Ward's solicitor, Niall Murphy, noted that this was the first time a citizen had been held for longer than seven days in Northern Ireland. "Only 36 such applications have been made in the UK, and I suspect none related to a crime like a bank robbery. If there are any further police applications for extensions we will strenuously oppose them."
The PSNI has arrested another man in connection with the robbery. Police say the 35-year-old was arrested in Belfast yesterday morning and is still assisting detectives in their inquiries into the robbery.