A “vulnerable” Lisburn man was shot in the chest at close range with a sawn-off shotgun in a killing which bore “all the hallmarks of an execution”, a court heard today (Wednesday).
As relatives of Paul Smyth sat in the public gallery of Belfast Crown Court, a Crown barrister said Mr Smyth was gunned down as he sat in the living room of his Coulson Avenue home in the early hours of June 19, 2019.
Three men appeared in court for a plea hearing while a fourth was unable to appear due to Covid.
All four admitted charges arising from the murder of Mr Smyth, 50, and a second gun attack on a house in Lisburn the same month, and will be sentenced at a later date.
James Andrew Thomas McVeigh, 36, with an address at Maghaberry, admitted murdering Mr Smyth and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life on a date between June 17 and 22, 2019.
He also admitted possessing a sawn-off shotgun and ammunition in suspicious circumstances on June 25, 2019.
James Holmes, from Lawnmount Crescent in Lisburn, pleaded guilty to possessing a sawn-off shotgun and ammunition in suspicious circumstances on June 25, 2019, and to two counts of attempted murder on June 23, 2019.
These offences relate to an early morning gun attack on a house on Mill Street where a five-year old child was sleeping.
James Robert Stewart, 32, also of Maghaberry, admitted two firearms offences, while Ryan Mark Megarry, 39, from Salia Avenue in Carrickfergus, pleaded guilty to encouraging or assisting offenders.
During the lengthy plea, Crown prosecutor Neil Connor QC set out the details surrounding the murder.
He said that on Sunday June 15, 2019, Megarry visited Mr Smyth to buy drugs, and following that visit Megarry then suggested to McVeigh that money and drugs “could be obtained readily” at Mr Smyth’s home.
On June 18th, Megarry left a tanning salon he owned in Lisburn, picked up McVeigh and pointed out the property in question.
The prosecutor said CCTV footage showed McVeigh “out and about” in Lisburn during the early hours of June 19th, and that cell site analysis proved he was in the Coulson Avenue area before his phone was turned off.
Revealing Mr Smyth lived alone at the property, Mr Connor described him as a “vulnerable man” who had health issues and rarely left his home.
On June 21st, a concerned friend who had been trying to contact him called at his home and discovered his lifeless body on the settee.
His t-shirt was covered in blood, and after she raised the alarm, emergency services arrived at the scene.
A post mortem concluded Mr Smyth’s death was due to a shotgun wound to the chest fired ‘no more than a few feet away’.
Whilst McVeigh later made the case that he didn’t mean to shoot Mr Smyth but that the weapon discharged when Mr Smyth made a lunge for the gun, Mr Connor said the murder “bore all the hallmarks of an execution”.
He said it was the Crown’s case that McVeigh shot Mr Smyth and stole money from him which he used to buy sportswear later that day.
Mr Connor said that Victim Impact Statements from Mr Smyth’s sister, nephew and cousin “speak movingly about how his death has had an enduring and debilitating effect on the wider family”.
Regarding the shooting at Mill Street, Mr Connor said a couple were woken from their sleep in the early hours of June 23rd by two men on the street, and that a shot was fired at their bedroom window which shattered the glass.
Following police investigations, all four men were arrested and charged with various offences linked to both the murder and the second gun attack, which they initially denied.
At one point during proceedings, Mr Justice Colton raised concerns about the behaviour of McVeigh and Holmes, who appeared alongside each other via a videolink with Maghaberry and who laughed, joked and didn’t appear to be listening to the proceedings.
The senior Judge said: “I don’t know whether they’re aware the court can see them and they have shown a complete lack of respect not only to the court but to the victims that are present.”
Defence barristers for all four men made submissons to Mr Justice Colton, who said he had a “lot of matters to consider” before he passed sentence.
He concluded by saying: “I will deliver my sentence as soon as possible.”
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