Gary Convie and Eamon Fox: Judgment in murder trial before Easter
- Published
Eamon Fox, 44, and Gary Convie, 24, were shot dead in 1994
The judgment in a trial involving the 1994 murder of two Catholic workmen is to be delivered before Easter, a court has heard.
James Stewart Smyth, 57, from Forthriver Link in Belfast, denies murdering Gary Convie and Eamon Fox.
The men were shot dead as they ate lunch in a car at a building site.
The prosecution said DNA evidence, Mr Smyth's "bad character" and testimony from supergrass Gary Haggarty were enough to convict.
Mr Smyth was identified as the gunman by Haggarty, a former Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) chief, earlier in the trial.
The senior loyalist-turned-supergrass was the main prosecution witness in the case against Mr Smyth.
Gary Haggarty, the most senior loyalist paramilitary to become a supergrass, was the main prosecution witness in the trial
In his final closing submission to Belfast Crown Court on Wednesday, prosecution barrister Kieran Murphy KC said: "This was a UVF murder in respect of which Mr Smyth was intimately involved."
He added that his submission was that Mr Smyth should be found guilty on all counts.
Questioning the reliability of Haggarty, the Crown's witness, defence barrister Michael Borrelli KC described him as "a liar, a dangerous liar".
Mr Fox, a 41-year-old father-of-six, and Gary Convie, a 24-year-old father-of-one, had been working on a building site in the Tiger's Bay area of Belfast in May 1994 when the Vauxhall Polo they were sitting in was riddled with bullets.
The two workmen had been eating their lunch at North Queen Street when they were targeted
The accused, Mr Smyth, denies their murder, as well as the attempted murder of a third workman who was in the targeted vehicle and survived the gun attack.
He also denies possession of a Sten sub machine gun and a quantity of ammunition with intent, and of being a member of the UVF.
However, as well as disputing the credibility of the prosecution's main witness, Haggarty, the defence cast doubt on the strength of DNA evidence against Mr Smyth.
Mr Borrelli added that eyewitness descriptions of the gunman were "inconsistent with Mr Smyth's height", saying the accused, at 5ft 4.5ins, was "nowhere near the height that is described".
After listening to the closing submissions, Mr Justice O'Hara told the court he would retire to consider his judgment, which would be given before Easter.