A man accused of murdering three police officers near Lurgan in 1982 has had his bail conditions altered.
Martin McCauley (62), with an address in Naas in County Kildare, had his case mentioned at Craigavon Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
Three Royal Ulster Constabulary officers were murdered in an explosion at Kinnego Embankment near Lurgan in October 1982.
The officers were Sergeant Sean Quinn and Constables Allan McCloy and Paul Hamilton.
The IRA claimed responsibility for the attack. The officers were in an unmarked police car and a bomb was detonated remotely by a command wire.
McCauley, who is originally from County Armagh, is on continuing bail.
He had been extradited from the Republic on the charges. He had then been given bail including reporting once a week to the PSNI in Newry and attending a police station in Kildare twice a day on the other six days.
The PSNI said the Newry requirement was to “mitigate flight risk”.
The defence was seeking to have the Newry requirement ended and for the defendant only to have to sign on in Kildare twice a week.
A barrister said they were “onerous” bail conditions involving a weekly round trip of over 170 miles to Northern Ireland.
District Judge Michael Ranagan kept in the Newry requirement but he altered the Kildare requirements to once a day for the other six days rather than twice.
He said the case involves “the most serious of allegations”.
The judge said the current bail conditions had been complied with for six and a half months and the case would take a considerable time to be dealt with at court “for disclosure and procedural reasons”.
Judge Ranaghan said reporting once a week to Newry is “an important safeguard to allow the PSNI to act upon any alleged breach”. He said that remained “proportionate” and will not be varied.
The defendant had been reporting twice a day – morning and evening – to police in Kildare but Judge Ranaghan said that was “no longer proportionate” and varied it to reporting once in the evening on each of the other six days.
He said that gives police a chance to “confirm where Mr McCauley is on each and every day of the week”.
The case was adjourned to October 3.
