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The Independent
03-07-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Bryson and McKay cleared in Nama trial
Three men, including loyalist activist Jamie Bryson and former Sinn Fein MLA Daithi McKay, have been cleared at Belfast Crown Court of charges relating to misconduct in public office. Mr Bryson, 35, from Rosepark in Donaghadee, and co-accused Thomas O'Hara, 41, from Lisnahunshin Road in Cullybackey, were found not guilty of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office. The charges had related to a Stormont committee hearing that examined the sale of the National Asset Management Agency's (Nama) Northern Ireland assets in 2015. Mr McKay, 43, from Loughan Road in Dunnamanagh – who was chairman of the finance committee at the time – was found not guilty of misconduct in public office. Mr Bryson and Mr McKay said there are now questions for the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) over why the prosecution was brought. The PPS has said the available evidence had indicated it was in the public interest to prosecute. Trial judge Gordon Kerr KC said he believed Mr Bryson had lied while giving evidence in the case, but said he was not involved in a criminal conspiracy. The long-running Nama trial had related to Mr Bryson's 2015 appearance before the Stormont committee, chaired by Mr McKay, which was investigating the sale of Nama's Northern Ireland assets to a US investment fund. The criminal probe was launched after the publication of leaked Twitter messages between Mr Bryson, Mr McKay and the account of Mr O'Hara, who at the time was a Sinn Fein activist in north Antrim. Mr McKay quit as an MLA within hours of the Twitter messages being published in August 2016. The Stormont Finance Committee inquiry was set up in 2015 amid political controversy over the multimillion-pound sale of Nama's property portfolio. Nama, the so-called bad bank created by the Irish government to deal with the toxic loans of bailed-out lenders during the economic crash, sold its 800 Northern Ireland-linked properties to investment fund Cerberus for £1.2 billion. Giving evidence to the committee in 2015, Mr Bryson used Assembly privilege to name former DUP leader Peter Robinson as a beneficiary of the sale. The then-first minister of Northern Ireland strongly rejected any suggestion he benefited from the deal. All other parties involved in the transaction also denied wrongdoing. Delivering his judgment in the non-jury trial on Thursday, the judge said: 'Despite his lies in court, I am sure that Mr Bryson was at all times communicating with Mr McKay. 'I am sure that the communications were designed to give Mr Bryson the best advice and guidance to maximise his chances of giving evidence. 'My analysis of the messages do not show any occasion where Mr McKay undertook to say or do anything outside his duties as chairman to ensure Mr Bryson's evidence would be in open session. 'Clearing Mr Bryson, the judge said the evidence did not establish there had been a criminal conspiracy between him and Mr McKay. He said: 'In the absence of an agreement, the conspiracy charge must fail.' Turning to Mr McKay, the judge said there was 'no doubt he deliberately misled the committee to ease the way for Mr Bryson's presentation'. The judge pointed out the Assembly had its own code of conduct and said there was 'no precedent for a prosecution in these circumstances'. Clearing Mr McKay, he added: 'I do not consider it my role to expand the offence.' The judge said the evidence against Mr O'Hara 'fell well short' of anything which would convince him of his guilt.
The Independent
03-07-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Bryson and McKay found not guilty in ‘Nama trial'
Three men have been cleared at Belfast Crown Court of charges relating to misconduct in public office. Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson, 35, from Rosepark in Donaghadee, and co-accused Thomas O'Hara, 41, from Lisnahunshin Road in Cullybackey, were found not guilty of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office, relating to a Stormont committee hearing that examined the sale of the National Asset Management Agency's (Nama) Northern Ireland assets in 2015. Former Sinn Fein MLA Daithi McKay, 43, from Loughan Road in Dunnamanagh – who was chair of the finance committee at the time, was found not guilty of misconduct in public office. The long-running Nama trial had related to Mr Bryson's 2015 appearance before the Stormont committee, chaired by Mr McKay, which was investigating the sale of the Nama's Northern Ireland assets to a US investment fund. The criminal probe was launched after the publication of leaked Twitter messages between Mr Bryson, Mr McKay and the account of Mr O'Hara, who at the time was a Sinn Fein activist in north Antrim. Mr McKay quit as an MLA within hours of the Twitter messages being published in August 2016. The Stormont Finance Committee inquiry was set up in 2015 amid political controversy over the multimillion-pound sale of Nama's property portfolio north of the border. Nama, the so-called bad bank created by the Irish government to deal with the toxic loans of bailed-out lenders during the economic crash, sold its 800 Northern Ireland-linked properties to investment fund Cerberus for £1.2 billion. Giving evidence to the committee in 2015, Mr Bryson used Assembly privilege to name former DUP leader Peter Robinson as a beneficiary of the sale. The then-first minister of Northern Ireland strongly rejected any suggestion he benefited from the deal. All other parties involved in the transaction also denied wrongdoing. Delivering his judgment in the non-jury trial on Thursday, Judge Gordon Kerr KC cleared all three of the charges they faced.
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Three men cleared of charges in Nama trial
Three men, including loyalist activist Jamie Bryson and former Sinn Féin assembly member Daithi McKay, have been cleared of charges relating to misconduct in public office. Mr Bryson, 35, from Rosepark, Donaghadee was charged with conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office in September 2015. Mr McKay, 43, from Loughan Road, Dunnamanagh, was accused of misconduct in public office. Former Sinn Féin party worker Thomas O'Hara, from Lisnahunshin Road, Cullybackey, also faced a conspiracy charge. The case centred on a meeting of a Stormont committee 10 years ago, related to the National Asset Management Agency, known as Nama. Mr Bryson gave evidence at the meeting, which was chaired by Mr McKay, a Sinn Féin member of the Assembly at the time. Mr Bryson's evidence to the committee was about the alleged wrongdoing around how Northern Ireland property loans were handled by Nama. In his remarks before delivering his verdict on Mr Bryson, the judge said he believed he had "lied on oath" during part of his evidence to the court. However, the judge concluded there was no criminal conspiracy between him and Mr McKay and both were acquitted. Mr O'Hara insisted during the four-week trial that he did nothing wrong. Judge Gordon Kerr KC delivered his judgement in the case on Thursday, two weeks after the trial ended. The meeting of Stormont's finance committee took place on 23 September 2015. The prosecution argued that procedural rules of the committee were subverted, through secret messages before the meeting between the three defendants. Mr Bryson admitted sending a series of private messages to Mr McKay and Mr O'Hara but insisted they did not break any laws. Mr McKay resigned from the Assembly in 2016 after claims emerged in the Irish News and on the BBC's Nolan Show that he had "coached" Mr Bryson before the meeting the previous year. After a complaint was made to the police, and investigation began which resulted in charges and ultimately a court case.
BBC News
10-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Nama trial: Ex-Sinn Fein worker says he was Jamie Bryson go-between
A former Sinn Féin election worker for Daithí McKay has told a court he was "used" as a go-between to send secret messages to loyalist activist Jamie O'Hara told Belfast Crown Court he thought the plan was "mad" as Mr Bryson was "not the biggest lover of the Shinners", but went along with it in September said Mr McKay, who was chair of Stormont's Finance Committee at the time, assured him there was "nothing criminal" about passing on the McKay, Mr O'Hara and Mr Bryson deny charges related to misconduct in public office and have been on trial for the past three weeks. The case centres on a meeting of the Finance Committee on 23 September 2015, at which Mr Bryson gave evidence about how Northern Ireland property loans were handled by the National Asset Management Agency, known as prosecution say the procedural rules of the committee were is alleged that a series of direct messages exchanged on Twitter before the meeting were evidence of a Bryson has admitted sending a series of private messages to the accounts of Mr McKay and Mr O'Hara but insisted he did not break any laws. 'Daithí McKay asked me for a favour' Mr O'Hara, who gave evidence for the first time to the court on Tuesday, insisted he was simply a conduit between Mr McKay and Mr Bryson, copying and pasting messages from one to the other."I just done what I was asked," he told the court."He (Mr McKay) said to me: 'Don't worry about it, it's nothing that serious, it's nothing criminal.'" Mr O'Hara, 40, from Lisnahunshin Road, Cullybackey, is a self-employed plasterer who lives with his mother. He told the court he has dyslexia and left school at 16 with no joined Sinn Féin in 2006 and said he had helped Mr McKay when he was an MLA by working in his constituency, canvassing and putting up election 2015, he said Mr McKay rang him and asked for a "favour", copying and pasting messages to and from Jamie court was told that private messages on Twitter had previously been directly exchanged between Mr Bryson and Mr McKay, but then Mr O'Hara became involved. 'I think he used me' It is alleged that Mr McKay told Mr Bryson to follow Mr O'Hara's Twitter account and they then exchanged a series of detailed messages before the committee meeting on 23 September court was told these included suggestions on how to present O'Hara was asked if he wrote the replied: "No, I didn't. Daithí McKay did."He was asked if he was worried that what he was doing was criminal."No, because he reassured me it wasn't," said Mr O' insisted he did not understand the messages he was passing on as they had "too many big words". Asked if he still regarded Mr McKay as one of his friends, he said: "No, I do not. I think he used me."Mr O'Hara denies a charge of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public court was told by a psychologist who assessed Mr O'Hara that he has an extremely low IQ and a reading age of the view of the psychologist, it was "very unlikely" that Mr O'Hara composed the messages sent from his account to Mr Bryson. All evidence now heard The non-jury trial, in front of Judge Gordon Kerr KC, began last Bryson, 35, from Rosepark, Donaghadee denies a charge of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public McKay, 43, from Loughan Road, Dunnamanagh, denies actual the committee meeting in 2015, Mr Bryson made an allegation about the then leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Peter Robinson, which was later denied and described by the politician as "scurrilous".The prosecution say Mr Bryson and Mr McKay were involved in an attempt to undermine the rules of the committee, in order to cause "considerable political embarrassment" to a number of people including Mr in the trial, when Mr Bryson gave evidence, he said he was not aware that Mr O'Hara had been acting as an alleged "back channel" to Mr McKay. After Mr O'Hara had been cross-examined, the court was told Mr McKay would not be giving evidence in the trial has now been heard and the case has been re-listed for final submissions on Monday Kerr said he hopes to give his judgement by the end of June.
BBC News
28-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
'Nama trial': Judge says hearings not to be commented on social media
The judge in the trial involving loyalist activist Jamie Bryson has warned defendants in the case not to be commenting on the hearings on social of the lawyers complained about a defendant providing "live commentary" on Fahy KC said it was improper and complained to the Gordon Kerr KC said he agreed "100%" and said if it was happening it should stop. The exact contents of the alleged social media post and the name of the account concerned were not mentioned in Fahy is representing one of three men on trial, Thomas O' case centres on a meeting of the Finance Committee at Stormont in September 2015. It is alleged that how evidence was presented was prosecution say that in advance of the hearing, private messages were exchanged between Mr Bryson, the Sinn Féin chair of the committee Daithí McKay and Mr O'Hara, who was a non-elected Sinn Féin member at the time. Mr Bryson, 35, from Rosepark, Donaghadee, denies a charge of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public O'Hara, 41, from Lisnahunshin Road, Cullybackey, denies the same McKay, 43, from Loughan Road, Dunnamanagh, denies a charge of misconduct in public prosecution say they were involved in an attempt to subvert the rules of the committee, in order to cause "considerable political embarrassment" to a number of people including the then First Minister Peter Robinson. 'Inappropriate' The Finance Committee hearing was about how Northern Ireland property loans were handled by the National Asset Management Agency, known as the start of day six of the trial, Mr Fahy raised the issue of social media posts by an unnamed defendant. He said the reputation of some legal representatives was being judge said: "It is entirely inappropriate for a defendant in a trial to be commenting on an account on social media."It is quite wrong and should not happen."If it has been done, it should certainly not continue."The non-jury trial began last week. The Prosecution has now concluded its trial is due to resume on Tuesday.
