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Ex-Sinn Féin worker says he was used as Jamie Bryson go-between

Mark Simpson
BBC News NI
BBC Thomas O'Hara has very short black hair and is smiling. He is wearing a blue hoodie and standing among a group of people.BBC
Thomas O'Hara, pictured above in 2015, told the court Daithí McKay asked him for a "favour" - copying and pasting messages to and from Jamie Bryson

A former Sinn Féin election worker for Daithí McKay has told a court he was "used" as a go-between to send secret messages to loyalist activist Jamie Bryson.

Thomas O'Hara told Belfast Crown Court he thought the plan was "mad" as Mr Bryson was "not the biggest lover of the Shinners", but went along with it in September 2015.

He said Mr McKay, who was chair of Stormont's Finance Committee at the time, assured him there was "nothing criminal" about passing on the messages.

Mr McKay, Mr O'Hara and Mr Bryson deny charges related to misconduct in public office and have been on trial for the past three weeks.

The case centres on a meeting of the Finance Committee on 23 September 2015, at which Mr Bryson gave evidence about how Northern Ireland property loans were handled by the National Asset Management Agency, known as Nama.

The prosecution say the procedural rules of the committee were subverted.

It is alleged that a series of direct messages exchanged on Twitter before the meeting were evidence of a conspiracy.

Mr Bryson has admitted sending a series of private messages to the accounts of Mr McKay and Mr O'Hara but insisted he did not break any laws.

PA Media Daithí McKay is walking along a street with another man and a woman. Mr McKay has short black hair and a goatee beard. He is wearing a light blue jacket and a blue tie with a white shirt and dark trousers. The man and women to his left are professionally dressed and carrying brief cases and pulling a baggage trolley.PA Media
Daithí McKay (left) with members of his legal team

'Daithí McKay asked me for a favour'

Mr O'Hara, who gave evidence for the first time to the court on Tuesday, insisted he was simply a conduit between Mr McKay and Mr Bryson, copying and pasting messages from one to the other.

"I just done what I was asked," he told the court.

"He (Mr McKay) said to me: 'Don't worry about it, it's nothing that serious, it's nothing criminal.'"

Mr O'Hara, 40, from Lisnahunshin Road, Cullybackey, is a self-employed plasterer who lives with his mother. He told the court he has dyslexia and left school at 16 with no qualifications.

He joined Sinn Féin in 2006 and said he had helped Mr McKay when he was an MLA by working in his constituency, canvassing and putting up election posters.

In 2015, he said Mr McKay rang him and asked for a "favour", copying and pasting messages to and from Jamie Bryson.

The court was told that private messages on Twitter had previously been directly exchanged between Mr Bryson and Mr McKay, but then Mr O'Hara became involved.

PA A man in a light blue suit with a light blue stripe tie is walking during the day time outside a building. He has thin, balding light hair and is wearing a backpack over one shoulderPA
Jamie Bryson, pictured arriving in court, denies a charge of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office

'I think he used me'

It is alleged that Mr McKay told Mr Bryson to follow Mr O'Hara's Twitter account and they then exchanged a series of detailed messages before the committee meeting on 23 September 2015.

The court was told these included suggestions on how to present evidence.

Mr O'Hara was asked if he wrote the messages.

He replied: "No, I didn't. Daithí McKay did."

He was asked if he was worried that what he was doing was criminal.

"No, because he reassured me it wasn't," said Mr O'Hara.

He insisted he did not understand the messages he was passing on as they had "too many big words".

Asked if he still regarded Mr McKay as one of his friends, he said: "No, I do not. I think he used me."

Mr O'Hara denies a charge of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.

The court was told by a psychologist who assessed Mr O'Hara that he has an extremely low IQ and a reading age of eight.

In the view of the psychologist, it was "very unlikely" that Mr O'Hara composed the messages sent from his account to Mr Bryson.

Press Eye Peter Robinson has short grey hair and is wearing a dark suit, with a blue stripped tie and a white shirt. He is gesturing with his left hand. He is sitting in a chair in a room with wooden panelling and vase of flowers in the background.Press Eye
Former DUP leader Peter Robinson described allegations made about him by Jamie Bryson in 2015 as scurrilous

All evidence now heard

The non-jury trial, in front of Judge Gordon Kerr KC, began last month.

Mr Bryson, 35, from Rosepark, Donaghadee denies a charge of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.

Mr McKay, 43, from Loughan Road, Dunnamanagh, denies actual misconduct.

At the committee meeting in 2015, Mr Bryson made an allegation about the then leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Peter Robinson, which was later denied and described by the politician as "scurrilous".

The prosecution say Mr Bryson and Mr McKay were involved in an attempt to undermine the rules of the committee, in order to cause "considerable political embarrassment" to a number of people including Mr Robinson.

Earlier in the trial, when Mr Bryson gave evidence, he said he was not aware that Mr O'Hara had been acting as an alleged "back channel" to Mr McKay.

After Mr O'Hara had been cross-examined, the court was told Mr McKay would not be giving oral evidence.

All evidence in the trial has now been heard and the case has been re-listed for final submissions on Monday afternoon.

Judge Kerr said he hopes to give his judgement by the end of June.