The trial of a man charged with the murders of two Catholics in Belfast was today told that Northern Ireland's Public Prosecution Service described its own star witness as deceptive, dishonest and flawed.
The witness is Gary Haggarty, a former UVF commander who agreed to become an assisting offender, a so-called 'supergrass’, and to give evidence against his former associates.
He spent three days in the witness box this week giving evidence against James Smyth, 57, who is charged with the murders of 41-year-old Eamon Fox and 24-year-old Gary Convie in May 1994.
A PPS assessment of his reliability and credibility written in June this year was read in Belfast Crown Court on the day the prosecution closed its case.
It said prosecutors had "serious and significant issues" with Haggarty’s reliability and credibility.
The document described the witness as deceptive, dishonest and flawed.
It also said his motivation for agreeing to become an assisting offender may have been to get revenge on his UVF associates and former RUC Special Branch handlers.
Haggarty admitted more than 500 offences including five murders, five attempted murders and 23 conspiracies to murder in order to receive a significantly reduced sentence as part of his agreement.
But the PPS assessment noted that he may have "minimised his role as a (UVF) battalion commander".
The document also described him as someone of "grave bad character".
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Due to concerns about his reliability and credibility the assessment said "a significant level of corroborating evidence" would be required to support his claims.
The prosecution has said its evidence includes a DNA profile of James Smyth found on a coat found wrapped around a machine gun used in the murders of Eamon Fox and Gary Convie.
Mr Smyth, from Forthriver Link in north Belfast, denies any involvement.
The court was told today that the former British soldier said he knew nothing about the shooting when questioned by police.
But he made no comment when asked why his DNA was found on a blue wax jacket wrapped around the Sten machine gun.
A prosecution lawyer told the non-jury trial that Mr Smyth was interviewed 12 times over a two-day period in October 2014.
She said he told detectives: "I know nothing about the murders. I’m not guilty and I have nothing further to say on the matter".
The lawyer said the defendant gave no response to several questions.
These included whether he ever had a blue wax jacket that was found wrapped around the machine gun and how his DNA profile got on to the collar of the coat.
The trial will resume in December when the defence is expected to make an application arguing that James Smyth has no case to answer.
