A man awaiting trial on offences linked to the PSNI investigation into the Omagh bombing atrocity in 1998 faced five new charges yesterday.
Mr Seán Gerard Hoey (34), an electrician, of Jonesboro, Co Armagh, was accused of plotting three bomb attacks in the run-up to the August 1998 explosion, which claimed 29 lives. He has also been charged with possession of a vehicle and a trailer containing explosives.
Mr Hoey has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
When Mr Hoey came before Craigavon Magistrates' Court in Co Armagh yesterday, a senior detective insisted that he could connect him with the offences.
The court heard that Mr Hoey allegedly conspired to cause explosions in Armagh and Blackwatertown in 1997/98. He was also accused of being involved in a bomb attack in Banbridge, Co Down, which wounded dozens of people two weeks before the "Real IRA" bombing of Omagh.
Det Chief Insp David McWilliams said Mr Hoey had replied "not guilty" when each of the five charges was put to him. The accused man, who is awaiting trial on 15 other charges, said nothing during his 10-minute appearance in the dock.
A defence lawyer asked when his client, who has been in custody for six months, could expect prosecution papers to be completed. Insp McWilliams replied: "By the end of May . . ."
He agreed with the solicitor that Mr Hoey had co-operated fully with police and that he emphatically denied all allegations made against him. - (PA)