Neil Lennon ‘bomb’ plot trial: Jury urged to put together “pieces of a jigsaw”

Trevor Muirhead, 44, from Kilwinning, and Neil McKenzie, 42, from Saltcoats, both Ayrshire, are alleged to have conspired to kill Mr Lennon, former Labour MSP Trish Godman and the late Paul McBride, QC, as well as various people in the premises of republican group Cairde Na hEireann, by sending improvised explosive devices to them.

They face a further charge of dispatching a device to Mr Lennon at Celtic Park with the intention of inducing him or some other person to believe it was likely to explode or ignite, causing injury or damage to property.

Both men deny the charges against them, all of which are alleged to have taken place between 1 March and 15 April last year.

At the High Court in Glasgow yesterday, advocate depute Tim Niven-Smith finished his closing speech to the jury of 11 women and four men.

He pointed out that the package sent to Ms Godman’s constituency office in Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire, on 28 March tested positive for the “primary explosive” substance triacetone triperoxide.

Two other packages, addressed to Mr Lennon at Celtic’s Lennoxtown training ground and Cairde Na hEireann in Gallowgate, Glasgow, contained peroxide, while the package addressed to the late Mr McBride contained a bottle of petrol, the court heard.

Referring to the package sent to Ms Godman, Mr Niven-Smith said: “What is in the mind of someone constructing, of the person or persons constructing it?

“I would invite you to conclude that they believed they were making an explosive substance. And why would they make an explosive substance if all they were doing was making a hoax?

“Why have they gone to the extremes of creating a primary explosive if it was all a joke?”

Mr Niven-Smith said the other “pieces of the jigsaw” include evidence given by Trevor Muirhead’s son Gordon, who, the court heard, said to police that his father and McKenzie told him not to turn left on his street where the parcel addressed to Mr McBride was found the following day by a postman emptying a letterbox.

The advocate depute also said that a text message sent from Muirhead’s phone to a contact listed as “Mac”, which referred to “our package”, demonstrated the two accused had been involved in a conspiracy with one another.

He also referred to a conversation between two men, recorded by a police bugging device in McKenzie’s car and heard in court previously, in which they discussed “letting the f***** off”.

Mr Niven-Smith said: “The Crown case is circumstantial, like pieces of a jigsaw. The devil in this case is in the detail and the detail is clear. The detail of the jigsaw is conspiracy to murder.

“I submit to you that, according to the evidence, the evidence shows their guilt.”

The trial continues.