Jamie Bryson allegedly sent messages to Sinn Féin, court hears

A court has been told that the loyalist activist Jamie Bryson allegedly sent a series of private messages to Sinn Féin before appearing at a Stormont committee.

They were said to have been sent on Twitter via direct message.

A number of the alleged remarks were critical of the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party).

In one of them, Mr Bryson is alleged to have written: "Who would ever have thought it, me and SF working together as the DUP squirm! Unreal!"

Mr Bryson, 35, from Rosepark, Donaghadee, is accused of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office, related to a Finance Committee meeting in 2015 at Stormont. He denies the charge.

The then chair of the committee was Sinn Féin's Daithí McKay.

The Crown's case is that Mr McKay and another Sinn Féin member exchanged messages with Mr Bryson before the committee meeting on 23 September 2015.

The prosecution at Belfast Crown Court say that how the evidence was ultimately presented to the Stormont hearing was manipulated.

During his appearance at the committee in 2015, Mr Bryson spoke about how Northern Ireland property loans were handled by the National Asset Management Agency, known as Nama. He made an allegation about the then First Minister Peter Robinson of the DUP, which was later denied and described by the politician as "scurrilous".

The prosecution say there was an attempt to subvert the rules of the committee, in order to cause "considerable political embarrassment" to a number of people including Mr Robinson.

Mr McKay, 43, from Loughan Road, Dunnamanagh, denies a charge of misconduct in public office.

Another man, who was a Sinn Féin member at the time, is also on trial.

Thomas O'Hara, 40, from Lisnahunshin Road, Cullybackey, faces a charge of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office, which he denies.

The Crown alleges he was involved in an exchange of messages with Mr Bryson.

The message which included the line "me and SF working together as the DUP squirm" was allegedly sent by Mr Bryson to Mr O'Hara.

The court was also told that Mr O'Hara allegedly wished Mr Bryson well before his committee appearance by writing: "Good luck tomorrow, everyone wants to hear you get this out in the public domain."

He later allegedly added: "You'll be 'trending' on Twitter by teatime! Lol."

The court was told Mr Bryson responded: "Lol! One way or another it's a big story and DUP are coming out of it badly."

The court was also told that a message from Mr O'Hara's account advised Mr Bryson not to refer to Peter Robinson by name until the end of his evidence.

The prosecution said Mr Bryson was put in touch with Mr O'Hara by Mr McKay, who at the time was the chair of the Finance Committee.

It is also alleged that Mr Bryson and Mr McKay exchanged messages before the involvement of Mr O'Hara.

The prosecution evidence is based on a series of screenshots of messages from the Twitter accounts of the three men.

The court was told that an expert who had studied the screenshots concluded that while no anomalies were identified, it could not be ruled out that they were modified or fabricated.

Some of the messages were incomplete.

Earlier, the solicitor Paul Tweed briefly gave evidence to the trial.

Under cross-examination, he was asked about a legal letter he wrote to Amazon after Mr Bryson published a book about Nama entitled The Three-Headed Dog.

Mr Tweed was asked if any legal action was forthcoming after the letter was sent.

The solicitor said he was limited in what he could say due to his obligations in terms of client confidentiality.

The non-jury trial, in front of a judge, began at the start of last week.

The trial continues.