Northern Bank employee granted bail
An employee accused of the £26.5m (€39m) Northern Bank robbery in Belfast was granted bail by a High Court judge today.
Lawyers representing Chris Ward, 24, from Poleglass, West Belfast, challenged the decision of a Lower Court judge to remand the bank worker in custody. Lord Justice Campbell granted the application subject to a number of conditions.
He said Ward must observe a curfew, report to police twice daily and surrender his passport.
Ward, who was one of the staff members taken hostage during the heist last December, denied the charge when he appeared before a magistrate in the city earlier this month.
Ward appeared via a video link from Maghaberry Prison.
The court heard he had recently requested a move to the republican wing of the prison after fears for his safety.
Ward became the second man accused of the robbery, which police have blamed on the IRA, after being questioned for eight days, during which around 60 interviews were carried out.
Soon after the raid, when the vaults of the Northern’s headquarters were cleared, the bank worker gave a television interview in which he spoke of his ordeal.
Gunmen took over his home and warned both and he and his family would be killed if he did not co-operate, he said at the time.
During the one-hour hearing today, Lord Justice Campbell acknowledged the seriousness of the robbery but said Ward had to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
He said: “This case is one of circumstantial evidence and it is not my task to comment on the strength or weakness of that.”
Lord Justice Campbell told the court Ward had a clear record, as did his parents, with whom he lives.
He also noted that he had been considered fit to have a position of responsibility at the Northern Bank for which he had worked since January 1999.
Before granting bail, the judge said Ward did not appear to be at risk of interfering with witnesses.
Ward is due to reappear in court on January 4.
