A Belfast man was cleared yesterday of murdering INLA member Gino Gallagher who was shot dead at his local dole office in January 1996. The murder charge against Charles Kevin Begley (26), from Dunville Street, Belfast, was dropped when he pleaded guilty at Belfast Crown Court to a separate lesser charge of conspiring to murder persons unknown.
Mr Justice Kerr, who adjourned sentence on Begley until today to give defence lawyers time to consider matters, said while he had not heard all the evidence in the case, he considered the prosecution application "appropriate".