A 57-year-old man charged in relation to the murder of a British soldier over 30 years ago has been granted bail to appear again before the court in Newry in July.
Kevin Crilly, of Lower Foughill Road in Jonesborough in south Armagh, appeared before Newry Magistrate's Court this afternoon charged with the kidnap and false imprisonment of Captain Robert Nairac.
The 29-year-old was abducted by members of the IRA from the car park of a pub in south Armagh in May 1977.
He was taken a short distance away over the border where he was interrogated and then murdered.
Six people have been charged in relation to his murder but gardaí believed that two other men from the Armagh area had fled the jurisdiction before being brought to justice.
On Tuesday Kevin Crilly was arrested as part of the new investigation into Captain Nairac's murder.
This afternoon Newry Magistrates Court heard that the defendant had been arrested on foot of a BBC Spotlight progamme in which Kevin Crilly was door-stepped by a journalist and asked about the murder. This programme was broadcast last July.
The prosecution objected to Mr Crilly being released on bail on the grounds that he could abscond. A member of the police investigating team argued that the defendant had left Northern Ireland following the murder in 1977 and fled to the USA, where he lived for 27 years before returning home around 2004.
However his defence team argued that because of the Prisoner Early Release Scheme, the defendant's own personal circumstances and the fact that he had instructed his solicitor to contact the PSNI's Historical Inquiries Team in relation to the case last July, it would be 'simply crazy' for him to abscond.
He was released on bail on a number of conditions including that he report daily to Newry police station and that he surrender his passport.
He is to appear again before the court in Newry on 16 July.
