Man appears in court over Daniel McClean murder

A 50-year-old man who is charged with the murder of Daniel McClean in north Belfast four years ago has appeared in court.

Hugh Black, with an address at Rosehead in Belfast, was brought before they city’s Magistrates’ Court after a technical issue with the video link system.

He is also accused of the attempted murder of 49-year-old Sean O’Reilly, who was shot as he sat in a taxi in Bell Steel Manor in west Belfast in February.

The court heard that Mr O’Reilly had been shot twice, suffering injuries to his shoulder and collar bone. Two other bullets hit his car.

Mr Black spoke only to confirm he understood the charges, which include possessing firearms and ammunition related to both incidents, and was remanded into custody.

On Thursday, a detective told the court he could connect the accused to the charges.

The court heard the defendant denied all the offences in a prepared statement to police after two days of questioning.

The senior investigating officer told court police did not believe Mr Black was one of the two gunmen involved in the shooting of Mr O’Reilly.

He said: “I believe Mr Black’s role was that of a look out or to identify Mr O’Reilly to the gunmen.”

He added that Mr Black had acted “in concert” with the gunmen, and was crucial to the plan to shoot Mr O’Reilly.

A defence lawyer raised objections to the identification of his client in CCTV footage, which the police said suggests Mr Black was in the immediate vicinity of the shooting.

He asked the officer to confirm that no DNA or ballistic evidence had been found, tying his client to the shooting.

It also emerged in court that the guns and ammunition used in the shooting were found in a bag near the scene. One of the guns was faulty and had a fully loaded magazine.

Mr Black is also charged with the murder of Daniel McClean, who was shot as he sat in a car parked in the driveway of a house on the Cliftonville Road in north Belfast in February 2021.

Mr McClean, who was in his 50s, had previously been identified as a dissident republican during court proceedings in 2019.

Mr Black’s solicitor described this as a “highly circumstantial case” which raised many issues. No further details were given on the case.

The judge said she was satisfied that the defendant could be connected to the charges.

Mr Black is due to appear before court via video link on Monday for a bail application.