A Ballymoney girl told Belfast Crown Court yesterday that shortly after Constable Greg Taylor was beaten and kicked to death in the Co Antrim town she saw a defendant limping.
She claimed Mr Jason Wilmont had told her he hurt himself kicking the RUC man. Eight Co Antrim men deny murdering the officer on June 1st last year. The witness denied "cutting a deal" with police to avoid implicating her boyfriend in the attack. But she admitted that she had not mentioned Mr Wilmont in her original statement.
Cross-examined by Mr Wilmont's QC, Mr Carl Simpson, the girl admitted she had been taken to Ballymoney RUC station several days later, after police went to her home at 6 a.m. She also agreed that after several taped interview she had asked detectives if she could speak to them "off-tape".
After doing so for 20 minutes she had given them her new statement, mentioning Mr Wilmont's alleged comment for the first time. The girl agreed she had realised that to get out she had to tell the police something. But she denied that she had made up the story.