Lennon bomb trial told of ‘our package’ text message

MESSAGES found on mobile phones seized from the homes of two men accused of conspiring to murder Celtic manager Neil Lennon and other high-profile supporters of the football club were shown to a jury at their trial yesterday.

Trevor Muirhead, 43, from Kilwinning, and Neil McKenzie, 42, from Saltcoats, both Ayrshire, are alleged to have plotted to kill Mr Lennon, the late Paul McBride QC and former MSP Trish Godman, by sending improvised explosive devices to them.

They are also charged with sending similar devices to the premises of Cairde Na Heireann, which means “Friends of Ireland”, in Glasgow.

Both men deny the charges.

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At the High Court in Glasgow yesterday, the jury was shown a text message sent from a black and silver Nokia phone found at Muirhead’s house, referring to “our package”.

Sent to someone listed in the phone’s contacts as “Mac”, it said: “Sorry about the time m8 our package was in last night waiting on navy bomb disposbal (sic).”

The court heard the message was sent at 2:56am on April 16 2011, the day after a suspicious package addressed to Mr McBride was lifted from a postbox in Montgomery Terrace, Kilwinning.

The day before, another message sent to the same person said: “Not heard anything about it must be on its way m8.”

On 22 April, the phone received a message which said: “My new number, Neil.”

A silver-coloured LG phone with the corresponding number was recovered from McKenzie’s house, the court heard.

The text messages were provided in a report, which was produced by Strathclyde Police Detective Constable Colin McLarnon, 38, who was tasked with examining mobile phones recovered by inquiry teams.

Muirhead’s son Gordon, 24, also gave evidence at the trial yesterday.

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The court was shown messages sent on April 20 to the phone recovered at Muirhead’s house from a contact called “Gordon”.

The first said: “Dad go tae (sic) 104 on Teletext on channel 1.”

Advocate Depute Tim-Niven Smith said: “A suspicious package was found in a postbox just around the corner from where you lived. What did you want your dad to look at?”

He replied: “Whatever it was that was on there.”

Mr Niven-Smith then asked him what he had been watching on the news.

Mr Muirhead answered: “Sport stuff. The package was found five days before so it wouldn’t have been that. You’re not going to put words into my mouth.”

A message sent to Gordon’s phone on the same day said: “Check the front page Daily Record m8.”

DC McLaren’s report also showed a series of texts between April 13 and 14, all of which were sent to “Mac”.

One said “Leave it to me m8 I will sort something out”, while another stated: “Don’t worry m8 we will get the taig bastard.”

The trial, before Lord Turnbull, continues on Monday.

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