The family of two young brothers killed in Co Down in 1993 have welcomed the first stage of court proceedings against a man being prosecuted with conspiring to murder them.
Laurence George Maguire, 62, of Millbank Terrace in Falkirk, Stirlingshire, has been accused of conspiracy to murder and firearms offences.
This is in relation to a plot to kill four male members of the Cairns family on a date unknown between between September 1, 1991 and October 29, 1993.
During a brief hearing at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Friday, District Judge Liam McStay was told the case is based on an interview given to a television documentary.
Brothers Rory, 18, and Gerard, 22, Cairns were shot dead by loyalist terrorists in Bleary, Co Down, on October 28, 1993.
Maguire has also been charged with possession of a firearm without certificate, possession of a firearm/ammunition in suspicious circumstances and possession of a firearm or ammunition.
The case was briefly mentioned in court on Friday morning.
A defence solicitor requested an adjournment, describing an “unusual case which is largely based on a TV documentary, and comments attributed to the defendant.”
Maguire did not appear during the hearing which lasted just minutes.
The case is set to be mentioned again at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on May 23.
Members of the Cairns family, supported by their solicitor Fearghal Shiels and the victims group Relatives for Justice, attended the court sitting.
Mark Thompson from Relatives for Justice, which has supported the family since 1993, paid tribute to their “dignified quest for justice”.
The Cairns family welcomed the day as a “beacon of hope” for other grieving families.
Speaking outside court, Liam Cairns who along with his father Eamon were also to be killed in the alleged murder conspiracy said his brothers were both innocent.
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“We’ve been campaigning, seeking truth and justice, for 31 years for Gerard and Rory who were both innocent,” he told the PA news agency.
“Gerard and Rory were murdered during one of the darkest periods of the conflict in this part of Ireland in 1993
“We would like Gerard and Rory’s names to be a beacon of hope for all the other families that have lost. Thirty-one years later, we are only starting now to get the first steps in our case.
“It’s our hope that other families will take heart and never give up seeking truth and justice for their loved ones.”