Belfast man convicted of attempted bomb attack on GAA club
John Wilson has been released on bail
- Published
A man has been found guilty of an attempted pipe bomb attack on a Belfast GAA club.
John Wilson, 59, of Lower Braniel Road in Belfast, placed two crude pipe bombs on the bonnets of cars parked at grounds used by East Belfast GAA.
He was also found guilty of attempting to intimidate members of the club from attending or playing sports at Henry Jones Playing Fields.
The jury at Belfast Crown Court deliberated for about fours hours over the course of two days before Wilson was found guilty of all counts in a unanimous verdict.
After planting the bombs, which failed to detonate, Wilson made a 999 call to police from a payphone outside of a pharmacy on the Ballygowan Road informing them of pipe bombs in the area.
A security alert was triggered and Wilson was arrested at his home the following day.
The crime has been described in court as "nakedly sectarian".
Discovering the devices
Earlier this week, one man whose car was one of those targeted, told the court that he didn't check his vehicle until the following afternoon after receiving a number of messages about the alert.
A second man, who is also a member of the club, made a similar discovery the day after the alert.
He found a silver cylindrical object on his bonnet, drove to a quiet location and called the police.
A third member of the club, alerted by the other discoveries, found a screwdriver with the appearance of a pipe bomb type device.
CCTV footage
On Friday, the jury of seven men and four women asked to see three clips of CCTV footage again.
The first clip showed him leaving his house on the day in question before returning a short time later.
The second clip showed him walking past cars parked at Henry Jones Playing Fields.
A third video showed Wilson's van parking in the area before he got out and phoned the police to inform them of the pipe bombs.
The jury resumed their deliberations for almost another hour before returning a unanimous verdict of guilty.
Wilson was granted bail to "get his affairs in order" before returning to court for sentencing on 5 December.