A former porter in Parliament buildings at Stormont yesterday became the third person to be charged in connection with an alleged IRA spying operation.
William Mackessy (41), north Belfast, appeared at the city's Magistrates Court following the seizure of documents in north and west Belfast and the raid on Sinn Féin's offices at Stormont last week.
He was charged with possessing documents likely to be useful to terrorists and recording details about British army personnel, including the Northern Ireland GOC, Lieut Gen Sir Alistair Irwin.
The charges alleged the offences took place between April, 2000, and Mackessy's arrest last Friday.
He was a porter in the Northern Ireland Office at Castle Buildings, Stormont, from April to September, 2001, when he was transferred after allegedly being found photo-copying documents.
Det Insp Michael McErlane told the court that Mackessy said "no reply" when asked if he had anything to say in answer to the charges.
Cross-examined by Patricia Coyle, defence solicitor, Inspector McErlane confirmed that the charges related to two documents which were neither found nor removed from his work place or home and the evidence to date was solely based on hand-writing analysis. The inspector said extensive work was still going on in relation to documents.
Ms Coyle said Mackessy was strenuously denying the charges. She said press reports in advance of charges being preferred had named Mackessy and allegations stated as facts had not yet been proven.
"The media has a responsibility not to inflame the situation further," she added.
Mackessy was remanded in custody for a week. A fourth person named in another court on Monday night as Ciaran Kearney (31), from Belfast, is still in custody and detectives have been given more time to question him.