A Vauxhall Astra car is to be used next week by the defence in the Belfast retrial of paratrooper Cpl Lee Clegg, to demonstrate how Karen Reilly may have been shot dead eight years ago.
Cpl Clegg (31) denies murdering the 18-year-old, who was shot dead in a stolen Vauxhall Astra car in which she was a back-seat passenger. Mr Justice Kerr at Belfast Crown Court gave permission for the demonstration, possibly on Monday, by defence pathologist Dr Ian West.
The judge agreed to the demonstration, to be held in an RUC hangar, on condition that it was recorded so it might reviewed, if necessary, later in the courtroom.
Mr William Clegg, QC, defending said Dr West would use the car and a person of similar build and height to Ms Reilly to compare the position the crown says she was in when shot with that which the defence suggests. Mr Clegg claimed the exercise was "not a reconstruction, but a demonstration" and was "nothing more than an aid for the evidence Dr West will give".
Objecting, Mr Francis O'Reilly, for the crown, claimed it
was an attempt to reconstruct the shooting. He argued this would be impossible as there was no evidence from any witness to say what Ms Reilly's movements had been in the back of the stolen Astra before and during the shooting.
Mr Justice Kerr said he would permit the evidence to be given as its character was more that of a demonstration than a reconstruction. However, he warned there was a danger that the exercise could stray into the realm of a reconstruction and if it did, he would "entertain further objections".
The patrol commander on the night of the shooting, Lieut Andrew David Oliver, supported Cpl Clegg's claim that the Astra had hit Pte Chris Aindow. He added he did not open fire himself until after the car then veered towards a second soldier, but claimed he would have been "morally justified" in opening fire as it went to strike Pte Aindow.
Mr Oliver said he was aware of shooting coming from Pte Aindow's and Cpl Clegg's position before he himself fired. But he said "to pinpoint who (Pte Aindow or Cpl Clegg) fired first would be impossible".
Earlier he told the court that it was he, and not an intelligence officer, as Cpl Clegg claimed, who told the patrol to be "extra vigilant" for fear of an "imminent IRA attack". He also said he never briefed the patrol about car thieves, claiming that to have done so may have "confused" his men.
The trial continues today.