Neil Lennon ‘parcel bomb’ trial: Package addressed to Paul McBride QC ‘smelled of petrol’

A DELIVERY driver for Royal Mail found a ‘suspicious package’ that smelled of petrol which was addressed to Paul McBride QC, a court heard today.

Stuart Hume was giving evidence at the High Court in Glasgow in the trial of two men accused of conspiring to murder Celtic manager Neil Lennon, former MSP Trish Godman and lawyer Paul McBride QC by sending them explosive devices.

Mr Hume told the court he collected the package from a post box in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, as he made his rounds on 15 April last year.

He said that it was addressed to Paul McBride QC, a name he recognised from the media.

He described it as a “suspicious package”.

Advocate depute Tim Niven-Smith asked Mr Hume to describe the package.

He said: “It was a small Jiffy bag. I noticed who it was named to. It was named to Paul McBride QC.”

Asked if he noticed anything else about it, he said: “There was a smell off the parcel. A smell of petrol.”

Trevor Muirhead, 43, and Neil McKenzie, 42, are accused of conspiring to murder Lennon, Ms Godman and Mr McBride, as well as various people in the premises of republican organisation Cairde Na Heireann, by sending improvised explosive devices to them between March 1 and April 15 last year.

It is alleged they believed the devices were capable of exploding.

The pair face an alternative charge of conspiring to cause an explosion of a nature “likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property”.

They deny all charges.