Inside the NAMA Trial: Explosive Twitter Messages Revealed in Court

A series of Twitter messages allegedly exchanged between loyalist activist Jamie Bryson and a Sinn Fein member were revealed in court during the 'NAMA' trial. The evidence was presented at the ‘NAMA’ trial and included a message allegedly sent by Mr Bryson which said ‘who would ever have thought it, me and SF working together as the DUP squirm! Unreal!’.

NAMA Investigation

Mr Bryson is one of three men currently on trial at Belfast Crown Court on charges arising from a meeting of the Assembly’s Finance and Personnel Committee. In September 2015, the Committee was investigating how Northern Ireland property loans were handled by the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) and on September 23 of that year, Mr Bryson gave evidence at the meeting.

Alleged Manipulation

It’s the Crown’s case that the rules of this Committee - which was chaired by Sinn Fein’s Daithi McKay - were subverted to cause political embarrassment to Mr Robinson who, in September 2015, occupied the position of First Minister. The Crown also allege that due to messages exchanged between Mr Bryson and the two Sinn Fein members Mr McKay and Mr O’Hara prior to the meeting, there was manipulation of how this evidence was presented.

Conspiracy Charges

Mr Bryson, 35, from Rosepark in Donaghadee and Thomas Gerard O’Hara, 41, from Lisnahunshin Road in Cullybackey have both been charged that on dates between September 1 and 24, 2015, they ‘conspired together and with Daithi McKay to commit an offence of misconduct in a public office’. Mr McKay, who is 43 and from Loughan Road in Dunnamanagh, has been charged with misconduct in a public office on September 23, 2015. All three defendants have denied the charges levelled against them.