Young woman accused of making explosives denied permission to live in Dundalk

Orla O’Hanlon

A young woman who is accused of making explosives just over the border has been refused permission to live with her boyfriend’s parents in Dundalk.

Orla O’Hanlon is due to face trial in November alongside boyfriend and 21-year old co-accused Keith McConnan on a number of offences including making and possessing explosives for dissident republicans with intent to endanger life or property at their south Armagh home.

The couple were arrested following police searches of their home on Tievcrom Road in Forkill in December 2013, where a number of items including an industrial 3ft-tall grinder were seized.

It is the Crown’s case that when this grinder was tested, white powder confirmed as ammonium nitrate – similar to that used in home-made explosives – was discovered in and around the appliance.

O’Hanlon, who is from Church Road in Forkhill and who turns 20 next week, spent time in custody and was subsequently released on bail subject to stringent conditions. These conditions included her living at her parents’ address, being electronically tagged and observing a 9pm to 7am curfew.

An application was made to Judge Sandra Crawford at Belfast Crown Court yesterday to vary O’Hanlon’s bail to allow her to live with McConnan’s parents in Dundalk. The main thrust of the application was that O’Hanlon was not getting on with her mother, she felt she got on better with her boyfriend’s mother and she wanted to live with his family.

Objecting to the bail variation, Crown prosecutor Robin Steer said that if O’Hanlon was allowed to move across the border, several of the bail conditions could not be monitored properly.

Mr Steer said that when O’Hanlon was initially granted bail in February last year, this was on the grounds that she lived with her parents. During this application, the court heard O’Hanlon was from a strong and supportive family.

Mr Steer also revealed that co-accused McConnan is making the case that he was acting under duress, and has claimed that a close relative was threatened by people who called to his family home. This prompted the prosecution to raise a further objection to O’Hanlon going to live at an “entirely unsuitable address”.

He also said O’Hanlon’s claim that she doesn’t have a good relationship with her mother was not a sufficient enough reason to vary bail and allow her to live across the border, especially so close to the trial.

Defence barrister Martin O’Rourke, representing O’Hanlon, told Judge Crawford that should bail be granted, O’Hanlon “is willing to sign daily, if necessary in Newry, in order to show the police that she was abiding by her bail conditions”.

O’Hanlon has denied all the offences levelled against her and has made the case that as far as she was concerned, the grinder was a normal household item which she used for baking.

Judge Crawford said that after giving “careful consideration” to the application to vary O’Hanlon’s bail, she was refusing the request.

Source: Belfast Telegraph

19-year-old woman denies running a bomb factory in Forkhill

Orla O’Hanlon

A 19-year-old woman, jointly accused with her boyfriend of running a “bomb factory” for dissident republicans just outside Dundalk, yesterday denied eight offences relating to explosives and ammunition.

Orla O’Hanlon entered not guilty pleas at Newry Crown Court to various charges accusing her of making explosives, possessing explosive substances and reloaded ammunition with intent to endanger life and under suspicious circumstances on a date unknown between November 22 and December 18 2013.

Alongside her in the dock was her boyfriend 20-year-old, originally from Dundalk, who faces the same charges. His scheduled arraignment was adjourned to Thursday due to a mix-up with his legal team, who did not attend on Tuesday.

The charges arise after police searched their former home address at the Tievecrom Road in Forkhill, uncovering improvised fertiliser-based explosives in an industrial coffee grinder as well as other items including a “fully constructed” timer power unit (TPU), a mobile phone controlled detonator switch and a “large amount” of latex gloves.

During a failed previous bail application for McConnan, a police officer claimed that forensic examinations of the plastic bag containing the TPU uncovered a finger print attributable to McConnan and that when his main address in Dundalk was searched, police found a quantity of sugar-based material regularly used in home-made bombs.

The officer further claimed that the police had evidence that McConnan had used a fake name to buy the sugar-based material, the TPU and a quantity of wire, adding that taking everything together, “we have a fully fledged home-made explosive device”.

Following her denials O’Hanlon, now with an address on the Church Road in Forkhill, was released on continuing bail while McConnan was remanded back into custody.

Alleged Dundalk bomb maker refused bail

McConnan appeared at Newry Magistrates Court

An alleged dissident republican bomb maker from Dundalk has been refused bail after a judge deemed he appeared to be “more actively involved in this enterprise” than first believed.

The comments were made by District Judge Eamonn King after he heard that the police investigation into 19-year-old Keith McConnan had revealed further evidence allegedly linking him to the manufacture of a “fully fledged” bomb.

A Detective Constable had earlier told Newry Magistrates’ Court that a fingerprint allegedly belonging to McConnan was found on a bag containing a “fully constructed” timer power unit (TPU), that there was evidence indicating that he used a pseudonym to buy both the unit and other component parts.

The officer also said a search of McConnan’s home in Dundalk uncovered a large quantity of sugar-based material and that terrorist organisations regularly used material such as glucose in conjunction with ground down fertiliser to make improvised explosive devices.

McConnan, who is originally from Dundalk but now has an address at Tievecrom Road in Forkhill, faces three charges of possessing explosive substances namely a timer power unit and ground down ammonium nitrate with intent to endanger life and making an explosive substance with intent to endanger life on a date between 15 to 18 December last year.

His girlfriend, Orla O’Hanlon, 18 and of the same address, faces the same charges after police raided their home just before Christmas last year when they found the timer power unit, an industrial grinder with associated ground down fertiliser and a large amount of latex gloves.

Objecting to McConnan being released on bail, the officer described how the TPU was ready to be deployed and that it could be detonated remotely by a mobile phone, adding that since the initial search, it had been confirmed the white powder found in the grinder, the kitchen and in a vacuum cleaner was ground down ammonium nitrate fertiliser.

He also claimed that forensic examinations of the plastic bag containing the TPU uncovered a finger print attributable to McConnan and that when his main address in Dundalk was searched, police found a quantity of sugar-based material regularly used in homemade bombs.

The officer further claimed that the police had evidence that McConnan had used a fake name to buy the sugar-based material, the TPU and a quantity of wire adding that taking everything together, “we have a fully-fledged homemade explosive device”.

Under cross examination from defence lawyer Kelly Doherty, the officer agreed that McConnan had a clear record and that his girlfriend O’Hannon had been granted High Court bail but he claimed that she would not have been released if the High Court had heard the same information.

He further agreed there was no forensic DNA evidence linking McConnan to any of the materials but told the lawyer that was no surprise “given the extensive amount of latex gloves found”.

The officer said police were objecting to bail on the grounds that McConnan would reoffend and given that he potentially faced a lengthy jail term, had an address in the Republic and had access to significant funds, he may flee the jurisdiction.

Refusing the bail application and remanding McConnan into custody to appear again on 25 May, Judge King commented that the “first impression” he had when the couple first appeared before him was that “these two individuals were used by more sinister people”.

The judge added, however, that given the police claims on Wednesday “it would tend to indicate that this particular defendant was more actively involved in this enterprise”.

Source: UTV News

Sunday World publishes first picture of teenager accused of bomb making

Orla O’Hanlon

The Sunday World have published the first photo of the ‘pretty’ teenager, who is one of two people charged with bomb making.

Orla O’Hanlon is charged along with fellow teenager Keith McConnan 19, in connection with the discovery of a bomb making factory in south Armagh last year.

Last week she was refused Legal Aid after a heated courtroom argument between the judge and her defence counsel at Newry magistrate’s court.

O’Hanlon 18, of Tievecrom Road, Forkhill and Dundalk man McConnan are accused of making and possessing explosives with intent to endanger life or property between December 15 and December 18 last year.

O’Hanlon had been released last month on High Court bail of £25,500 with a £500 cash sum and the deeds to her father’s house being handed in to the court by way of surety.

According to The Sunday World, the accused teenager, who was only two when the Good Friday Agreement was signed, has also been ordered to hand over all her travel documents and must sign in three times at a week at a PSNI station. She was also ordered not to be in contact with co-accused McConnan or a businessman named in court as ‘Oliver Treanor’.

District judge Bernie Kelly declined a Legal Aid application as the defendant lived under her parents’ roof and therefore regarded them as providing financial support for her.

Counsel for O’Hanlon reacted angrily: “Am I now being asked to do this for nothing?” he exclaimed.

O’Hanlon, who has changed her hair colour to brunette, was not in court. The pair were arrested at a house on Tievecrom Road on Wednesday, December 18 under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act.

At a previous hearing a detective constable from the PSNI’s Serious Crime Branch told district judge Eamonn King that he could connect the two teenagers to the charges.

He told the court that in a walk-in wardrobe in a bedroom officers found a timer power unit and ancillary items for the timer power unit.

”This would enable a bomb to be placed which could delay the detonation for several days.”

The detective added that in a bin a white substance was discovered which was forensically tested and found to be ammonium nitrate which he said is used for “home made explosives”.

O’Hanlon spoke openly about her family and home life during police interviews but refused to comment on anything further apart from to claim the industrial coffee grinder was used to grind down flour.

Source: Pretty teen charged with making bombs (The Sunday World)