Thursday 16 June 2022

Judge refuses to drop the case against suspected UVF dissident Jamie Bryson charged with making a false statement to the Security Industry Authority (SIA) on June 2018.

AN ALLEGEDLY "flawed" Security Industry Authority (SIA) investigation into Jamie Bryson was initiated by a police officer using a fake social media profile, the loyalist activist suggested in court yesterday.

Representing himself at his contest at Downpatrick Magistrates Court, Mr Bryson put to different investigators from the SIA that their investigation of him began when they received a "tip off" from a police officer using a pseudonym on a fake social media platform.

The loyalist blogger is on trial this time charged with making a false statement to the SIA and making a false statement to the body on June 6th 2018 that "JJ Security Services Limited has never traded".
The court has heard that the SIA wrote to Mr Bryson in September 2017 requesting information about JJ Security Services Ltd, a company where he was a named director, as part of an investigation into door staff operating in the north Down area.

In his reply Mr Bryson stated that JJ Security Services Ltd has never traded and he did not hold any relevant information. It is the contention that according to a £450 invoice for "SIA licensed event supervisors" at a bonfire festival in Bangor in 2017, a document created by JJ Security Services, five men were supplied for six hours at a rate of £15 per hour each.

That invoice was seized during searches of three addresses in north Down while the manner in which the search warrants were issued have resulted in a raft of applications before various courts where it was successfully argued the warrants were not lawfully obtained and journalistic material, computers and hard drives seized have all been returned to Mr Bryson.
In the witness box yesterday, an SIA investigator gave evidence that as far as he was concerned, he "made the assumption" that the two companies JJ Security Services Ltd and JJ Security were the same.

Ian Guest agreed that even though they had gone through documents which were "two inches thick" along with other files seized from Mr Bryson including statements from his personal bank accounts, the single invoice was the only thing suggesting that Mr Bryson had been involved in supplying unlicensed security staff.
Lodging an application at the end of the prosecution case for the charges to be dismissed. Mr Bryson argued that "there's absolutely nothing to show that a limited company was trading" so describing the case as fatally flawed.

Refusing to dismiss the charge District Judge Amanda Brady said in her view "there are questions that need to be answered" by the defence.
The case will resume June 29th.

With many thanks to: The Irish News for the original publication.




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