Disclosure work under way for fresh inquest into man abducted from south Belfast

Western Telegraph

16-06-2025

The body of Thomas Lockard, 34, was found by the side of a road at Raskeagh in Co Louth two days after he disappeared from his home on the Malone Road in south Belfast on April 25 1998.
Nobody has been convicted over the death.
Alice Lockard, the sister of Thomas Lockard, with solicitor Owen Winters, outside Laganside Courts, after the preliminary hearing of the Belfast Coroner's Court (Liam McBurney/PA)
A fresh inquest was ordered into his death last year by the Northern Ireland Attorney General, Dame Brenda King.
Mr Lockard's sister Alice was at Belfast Coroner's Court for the first preliminary hearing in the case on Monday morning.
It heard that a deadline of October 2 has been set for the disclosure of non-sensitive information from police as well as the Ministry of Defence, Police Ombudsman, Forensic Science Northern Ireland and the Public Prosecution Service.
Footage from news reports is also being sought from RTE.
Counsel for the coroner Philip Henry said there are 34 folders of PSNI non-sensitive material which are currently being prepared, and searches within the MoD remain ongoing.
Leona Gillen, acting for the Crown Solicitor's Office, said both the PSNI and the MoD do not foresee any problems with meeting the deadline.
In terms of PSNI sensitive material, the inquest will be impacted by a six-month pause to September 6 on work on any case other than the Omagh Bombing Inquiry.
Ms Gillen said she will seek instruction on timescales around that work.
The hearing was also told that a letter had been found dated November 2019, which had been sent by coroner Anne-Louise Toal to the next of kin's solicitor in her previous role working as a solicitor in the Attorney General's Office.
Mr Henry said: 'Having spoken with you this morning and after we identified the letter, it was clear to us that you didn't have any significant involvement in processing the section 14 application, and it appears that your only involvement was in relation to the letter itself and issues in and around it.
'But we thought at the outset better that everyone know that. It's quite apparent from the fact that whenever you were assigned the case it didn't trigger any memories of previous involvement which rather demonstrates the limited nature of your involvement with it while in the Attorney General's Office but we put it on everyone's radar so that they can consider their position.'
The next preliminary hearing is set to take place on October 6.