2 Suspects in Ulster Slayings Appear in Court

Two unemployed Belfast men appeared in court Saturday after being charged with the slaying of two British army corporals who were dragged from their car by a mob and beaten, stripped and shot to death.

Amid tight security, a magistrate ordered the suspects, Alexander Murphy, 30, and Henry Maguire, 28, held in custody until a hearing April 26. Murphy and Maguire were formally charged Friday night, but their names were not released before their court appearance Saturday.

Two other suspects were being questioned by police in connection with the slayings on March 19 of the two soldiers, who were seized beside an Irish Republican Army funeral cortege and killed execution-style with gunshots to the head, police sources said. They gave no further details.

At Saturday’s 60-minute hearing, a detective told Magistrate Tom Travers, who was a victim of a sectarian attack two years ago, that police had forensic and scientific evidence linking Murphy and Maguire to the slayings of Derek Wood and David Howes.

The detective said authorities found fragments of blood-stained glass on the clothing of the two defendants. He said the fragments were consistent with glass fragments found at the scene of the killings.

Blood on Suspect’s Trousers

The detective also said fibers like those from a green sweater worn by Wood were found on the defendants’ clothing. The court was also told Howes’ blood was found on Maguire’s trousers.

Police did not reveal the circumstances of their arrest, but London’s Daily Mirror newspaper said Murphy and Maguire were taken into custody within minutes of the killings following a surveillance operation with high-tech cameras mounted on an army helicopter.

“They were arrested when police stopped a black taxi near the murder scene,” the newspaper said.

An officer said that when the two men were told Friday night that they were being jointly charged with murdering the soldiers, Murphy said nothing and Maguire said “not guilty.”

The soldiers were trapped by taxi cabs and a mob after they tried to drive at high speed along the side of the funeral cortege. Military personnel had been told to stay away from the funeral area, and army chiefs say it is still not known what the two were doing on the same street as the cortege.

The outlawed IRA, which is fighting to end British rule in Northern Ireland and unite the province with the Republic of Ireland, said members of its guerrilla organization carried out the killing of Wood and Howes.