Two men were today (Friday) found guilty of the “carefully planned and brutal assassination” of convicted criminal Malcolm McKeown almost six years ago.
Jake O’Brien (30) and Andrew Thomas Kenneth Martin (29) were also found guilty of possession of two guns used to murder the 54-year-old at close range.
Two other defendants, Stevie Lee Watson (36), from Princeton Avenue in Lurgan, and 36-year old Simon Smyth from Hazelgrove Avenue in Lurgan, were both acquitted of the murder and possessing the guns with intent to endanger life.
All four defendants had been on trial before a judge sitting without a jury at Belfast Crown Court last year and had denied both offences. None of them gave evidence at their trial.
Mr McKeown was shot at least six times as he sat in his silver BMW at the back of a service station on Waringstown’s Main Street on Monday, August 19, 2019.
He had bought the car the weekend before his murder had only been released from prison 12 days earlier.
In his lengthy ruling today (Friday), trial judge Mr Justice Fowler described the murder of McKeown as “carefully planned and brutal assassination”
He told Martin, of Bridge Street in Banbridge, that there were “strong strands of circumstantial evidence” linking him to the murder.
“I am of the view that he was one of the gunmen who shot and executed Mr McKeown and I am sure that he is one of the gunmen who shot Mr McKeown,” said Mr Justice Fowler.
“He had already pleaded guilty to murder as an aider and abetter but I find him guilty of the murder as a principal.
“I am also sure that he is guilty of the second count of possessing firearms and I convict him of that also.
“I have already sentenced him to life imprisonment and I will set his tariff on September 12.”
Turning to O’Brien, from Rectory Road in Lurgan, Mr Justice Fowler said: “I am sure that he was involved in this brutal assassination of Mr McKeown.
Malcolm McKeown in the garage forecourt moments before he was assassinated
“There are sufficiently strong chords of a substantial nature in this circumstantial case.
“Accordingly, I find him guilty of the deceased’s murder as a principal and I am also sure he is guilty of the firearms offence.
“Mr O’Brien, there is only one sentence that I can impose in relation to that of murder and that is life imprisonment and I impose that sentence.”
Both defendants will find out on September 12 how long they will spend in prison before they are eligible to apply to the Parole Commissioners to be freed on licence.
Addressing Watson, Mr Justice Fowler said: “I have considered all the evidence against you and the circumstantial nature of that and a considerable amount of that is speculative and conjecture.
“Where there may be suspicion I cannot be certain to make me sure that you are guilty of the deceased’s murder and accordingly I find you not guilty of both counts.”
The senior judge told Smith that he could not be sure of “your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt as a secondary party to Mr McKeown’s murder” and he formally acquitted him on both counts he faced.
It was the prosecution case during the trial that McKeown was staying with a friend who lived opposite Dewart’s service station on Main Street in Waringstown.
A senior prosecutor told the trial: “Mr McKeown would have been, considering his background, wary of being attacked by other criminals.
“He had been shot and seriously wounded in the past and he had receive warnings from police about being under threat.”
McKeown was last seen alive at 7.19 pm when he walked out of Dewart’s garage and got his BMW car which was parked at the rear of the station.
Less than a minute later, a Volkswagen Passat, stolen six months earlier in the Republic of Ireland, was seen speeding away from the scene. The vehicle was found burned out a short time later in Lurgan.
A sales assistant at the garage heard several loud bangs and assumed it was either fireworks or bangers.
During the course of the trial last year, a 999 emergency call alerting police to the blood-stained body of a man found slumped in his car was played.
The PSNI received the call at 8.59 pm from a member of the public.
The caller stated: “I am just ringing from Dewart’s petrol station in Waringstown. There seems to be a boy in a silver BM(W) with blood to his chest. He doesn’t seem to be breathing. The registration number is XEZ 5518.”
Asked by the police call handler if he recognised him, the man replied: “I don’t know who it is. He is on his own.”
When police arrived at the scene shortly after 9 pm, McKeown was found slumped over the driver’s seat of his BMW.
Blood was visible on his head and chest and it immediately appeared that he had been shot.
He was removed from the vehicle and despite CPR being administered at the scene, it was apparent he was dead by the time emergency services arrived.
A post mortem examination conducted on August 21, 2019, concluded that death was caused by bullet wounds to the head and trunk and McKeown had been “struck by at least six bullets”.
In the aftermath of the killing, items recovered from the burned out Passat – which had been fitted with false number plates – were forensically examined as were cartridges located beside the deceased’s BMW.
Jake O’Brien’s DNA was found on a black disposable latex glove and a boiler suit discovered near the Passat.
He was further identified as one of two men captured on CCTV running into a cul-de-sac close to where the Passat was torched.
Andrew Martin was identified as the second man in the footage. Martin was arrested at Trasna Way in Lurgan on August 24, 2019. Later that day, O’Brien was also arrested.
The court heard that in the days before the shooting, Martin had conducted searches about McKeown on his phone.
Police examined the Samsung phone and under searched items from August 9 to August 18, 2019, there were 19 entries which included terms such as ”shooting.craigavon’, ‘malcolm mckeown’ and ‘malcolm mckeown craigavon’.
The prosecution lawyer said the web history on the phone was also examined with titles such as ‘The act of killing aftermath’, ‘Can’t sleep after murder’, ‘Scared to sleep after someone dies’, and ‘Murder accused Malcolm McKeown owed Hugh McGeough money’.
Records showed Martin’s phone powered off at 5.03.23 pm and powered on at 7.29.30 pm, a few minutes after Mr McKeown was shot dead in cold blood.
The court heard police searched Jake O’Brien’s home on August 24, 2019 and found a mobile phone under the pillow in a front bedroom.
‘Device Data Records’ (DDR) on this phone said it “detached from the network at 5.13 pm…reconnecting to the O2 network at 7.45 pm”, around 15 minutes after the murder.
