Jamie Bryson preparing legal challenge to facing trial without jury in Nama probe case Jamie Bryson. Picture by Pacemaker. 24 May, 2021 15:58
A LOYALIST activist accused of conspiring to subvert a Stormont inquiry into a billion pound property deal is preparing a legal challenge to facing trial without jury.
Lawyers for Jamie Bryson have taken preliminary steps in a potential High Court case against the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in Northern Ireland.
The 31-year-old denies a charge of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office on dates between September 1-24, 2015.
Former Sinn Féin MLA Daithi McKay and party member Thomas O Hara are accused of the same offence.
Submitting.
Former attorney general John Larkin
The defendants are already seeking to judicially review the decision to have them returned for Crown Court trial - where Mr Bryson will be representing himself.
But now he has initiated a second possible challenge to the legality of the decision to issue a certificate for a non-jury trial.
Pre-Action Protocol correspondence has been sent to the Public Prosecution Service in Belfast, alleging that the DPP has misdirected himself and asking for the certificate to be rescinded.
Mr Bryson, who has enlisted former Attorney General John Larkin QC for the civil cases, said: “It appears to me that the Director has misdirected himself in applying the criteria for a non-jury trial and has significantly failed to consider the relevant circumstances within the appropriate context.