Overview

• Judge Gordon Kerr KC cleared loyalist activist Jamie Bryson, former Sinn Féin MLA Daithi McKay and activist Thomas O’Hara of misconduct in public office charges at Belfast Crown Court.
• The 2015 charges stemmed from allegations of conspiracy by the trio to manipulate a Stormont Finance Committee inquiry into NAMA’s sale of 800 Northern Ireland properties to Cerberus for £1.2 billion.
• Kerr’s ruling noted that Bryson lied under oath and McKay misled the committee but found no criminal offence and concluded that the evidence against O’Hara fell well short of a conviction.
• The prosecution followed the 2016 leak of Twitter messages between the defendants that triggered a criminal investigation and prompted McKay’s resignation as an MLA.
• Bryson and McKay have challenged the Public Prosecution Service’s rationale for bringing the case while the PPS maintains the evidence indicated prosecution was in the public interest.