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Analyst can't rule out that CCTV recording was paused, €2.2m robbery trial hears

Summary

The trial of Niall Byrne, Mark Farrelly, Christopher Corcoran, and David Byrne continues before Judge Melanie Greally at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. All four defendants have pleaded not guilty to the alleged false imprisonment of four members of the Richardson family at their home in Raheny, Dublin, on March 13 and 14, 2005, and to robbing Paul Richardson and Securicor of €2.28 million on March 14, 2005. During proceedings, forensic video analyst Feargal O Lideadha testified that he could not rule out that a Securicor CCTV recording was paused for three minutes between 5.26am and 5.29am on the day of the alleged robbery. The expert stated he had no explanation for the gap and noted that best practice guidelines for preserving digital evidence were not followed, as there was no audit trail or written explanation for the interruption. He declined to confirm whether the gap resulted from a system malfunction or manual intervention. The trial, which began in January, is currently ongoing before an enlarged jury of seven women and seven men. One juror was discharged earlier in the day due to pre-booked holiday plans. The matter remains at the trial stage, with no final verdict or sentence recorded.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Analyst can't rule out that CCTV recording was paused, €2.2m robbery trial hears. Charges or matters: robbing Paul Richardson and Securicor of €2.28 million on March 14, 2005; the false imprisonment of four members of the Richardson family at their home at Ashcroft, Raheny, Dublin, on March 13 and 14, 2005. Procedural stage: sentence

When:

• March 14, 2005 Hearing Or Sentence
• March 13 Hearing Or Sentence
• March 11 Other
• 2018-04-25 Publication

Why: He explained that he had no records of who had extracted or made copies of the CCTV data and said there was no written explanation of why the footage had stopped for the few minutes. CNI source report

Case subjects

Places mentioned

Topics

Stage Sentence Theft

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Read the original CNI report