Loyalist and former Sinn Féin MLA appear at 'Nama trial'

Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson and former Sinn Féin assembly member Daithí McKay have appeared together in the dock as the so-called "Nama trial" got under way.

Belfast Crown Court heard that the case against the men, as well as Sinn Féin member Thomas O'Hara, concerned an attempt to cause "significant embarrassment" to the then first minister Peter Robinson and others.

Mr McKay is accused of committing misconduct in public office, which he denies.

Mr Bryson, 35, from Rosepark, Donaghadee, and Mr O'Hara, 40, from Lisnahunshin Road, Cullybackey, both deny conspiring to commit misconduct in public office.

The case dates back to September 2015 and a hearing of the assembly's finance committee, which was investigating Northern Ireland property loans by the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).

Mr McKay, 43, from Loughan Road, Dunnamanagh, was chair of the committee at the time.

He denies misconduct by manipulating the presentation of evidence to the committee.

Mr Bryson gave evidence to the committee.

During an opening statement, Toby Hedworth KC said it was the prosecution's case that by engaging in "subterfuge" to allow Mr Bryson to make allegations that did not adhere to the committee's terms of reference, Mr McKay was "wilfully misconducting himself to such a degree to amount to abuse of public trust".

This was done, he said, "without reasonable excuse or justification".

Mr Hedworth said Mr McKay had "contrived" how Mr Bryson's evidence would be given in public session when it should have been in private, and when he had knowledge of what was going to be said.

"There was conspiracy to allow that to happen, with Mr O'Hara being a vital and knowing cog in the wheel," he added.

Some details behind the police investigation were aired in court on Tuesday afternoon.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) was asked in 2016 in a letter from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) chairman Lord Morrow to investigate alleged wrongdoing by Mr Bryson and Mr McKay.

The DUP chairman wrote to the then PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton after media reports suggesting improper contact before a meeting of the Stormont finance committee.

Lord Morrow told the court he asked the chief constable: "Was there a danger that there was some criminal stuff going on here?"

The court was told the letter from Lord Morrow was not sent in person, but on his behalf.

Under cross-examination, he accepted that contact sometimes took place before Stormont committees between chairpersons and potential witnesses.

Earlier, the court heard from Sammy Morrison, personal assistant to the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister.

He said he had been contacted by Mr Bryson in August 2016 just before a news story broke about alleged messages exchanged between him and Mr McKay before a committee meeting the previous year.

The story subsequently broke in the Irish News and on the Nolan Show on BBC Radio Ulster.

Mr Morrison said Mr Bryson had asked him hypothetical questions about the code of conduct for elected members at Stormont, and had sent him some information.

Mr Morrison was asked about contact between committees and witnesses.

He pointed to contact between the chair of the executive committee, Paula Bradshaw, and the First Minister Michelle O'Neill before a meeting last year.