Ian Ogle: Murder was 'linked to local dispute', court hears

Ian Ogle, 45, was beaten and stabbed 11 times near his home in Cluan Place in east Belfast in January 2019

The trial of three men accused of murdering a man in east Belfast has heard that it was linked to a local dispute which began after an alleged "dirty look" in a bar.

Ian Ogle, 45, died after being beaten and stabbed 11 times in January 2019.

Three men have gone on trial, accused of his murder.

Glenn Rainey, from Ballyhalbert Caravan Park; Alan Ervine of Litchfield Street, Belfast; and Robert Spiers, from Millars Park in Dundonald, deny murder.

On Wednesday, the trial heard from Mr Ogle's son, Ryan Johnston, who agreed with a prosecution barrister that his family faced intimidation for over a year after he himself had been attacked and beaten in the Prince Albert bar in east Belfast.

Ryan Johnston said he was in the bar in July 2017 when one of the defendants, Glenn Rainey, began collecting money at 01:00 for "a lock-in".

Mr Johnston agreed that he said to Glenn Rainey that "the DJ wanted to get home".

He also agreed with the prosecution that Glenn Rainey later said to him "stop tapping me" and "you're the one firing dirty looks".

The trial heard how Ryan Johnston was subsequently attacked and "all hell broke loose" during which he was "bottled".

His father, Ian Ogle, and Mr Johnston's sister, Toni Johnston, arrived at the bar to help him, and Ian Ogle was also "bottled " while Toni was "beaten up", the court was told.

Ryan Johnston also agreed that he saw Glenn Rainey doing "pull-ups" in a smoking area, after the alleged attack, "because he was off his head on drugs".

When asked by the prosecution if "intimidation rumbled on" after the incident in the Prince Albert bar, Ryan Johnston replied "yes ".

Mr Johnston was also asked if he attacked a second cousin of his, Neil Ogle, a short time before his father was attacked and killed.

Mr Johnston agreed that he did attack his cousin as there was "bad blood" between them, because Neil Ogle did not help him when he was attacked and beaten in the Prince Albert bar.

He also agreed that while he was fighting with Neil Ogle, along a roadside on the Beersbridge Road in east Belfast, his father, Ian Ogle, got out of the car they had been travelling in and urged him to "get into him, son".

When he was asked if the attack on his father would not have happened if he had not attacked his second cousin that night, Ryan Johnston replied "yes".

It was described how, within an hour of the fight with his cousin, he was told that his father had been attacked by a group of men.

He agreed that he arrived to find his father lying on the street and he tried to help him, shouting "daddy, daddy".

'Impending doom'

A statement from Ian Ogle's daughter, Toni Johnston, also described how she was beaten in the Prince Albert bar in July 2017 and how their family had been subjected to "sustained intimidation" since the incident.

In a separate statement, read to the court, Ian Ogle's partner, Vera Johnston, said their family endured "threats and intimidation".

She also said she is "completely traumatised and numb" since she lost her "life-long partner".

A local pastor, Kevin Senbrook, who was praying with Ian Ogle on a street beside his home in Cluan Place before he was fatally attacked in January 2019, said he got a sense of "impending doom" and he felt something menacing and sinister was about to happen.

As Ian Ogle was being attacked, Pastor Senbrook said he witnessed "blows coming down on him" and one of the attackers stamped on his head three or four times.

Two other men, Jonathan Brown, 38, from Whinney Hill in Dundonald and Mark Sewell, 45, of Glenmount Drive in Newtownabbey have already pleaded guilty to murder.

The trial continues.