A Scottish man has been acquitted on a terrorist charge arising from a screenshot of a list of alleged drug dealers in Belfast which he posted on a Republican Facebook page.
After deliberating for around 20 minutes on Wednesday, a jury at Belfast Crown Court returned a unanimous ‘not guilty’ verdict against Andrew Stephen Rae.
The 43-year old, from Glenavon Road in Glasgow, was charged with, and denied, possessing documents or records useful to terrorism – namely that on March 22, 2022 he possessed an image of a list of alleged drug dealers from Belfast which included a threat that they would be executed.
This list and accompanying threat, the Crown said, was ‘of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’. During the two-day trial, the jury of seven men and five women heard that around August 7, 2021 the PSNI became aware that a list had appeared in north and west Belfast.
This list contained the names of 25 suspected drug dealers, mentioned ‘The Republican Movement’ and stated those on the list ‘will be executed’. Due to the threat, the men and women named on the list were spoken to by the PSNI and informed of the threat.
On August 30, 2021 a post appeared on the Republican Activist Coalition’s Facebook page which said ‘For too long drug-dealing scum have gone under the radar while wrecking communities with the poison they sell’.
It added that ‘When Covid 19 passes, the real pandemic still goes on. Drug addiction contributes overwhelmingly to negative mental health, homelessness and suicide. Starting this week, we will be naming everyone who we know is selling in our communities. Stay tuned’.
The post attracted several reactions including shares and comment and at 6.34am the following morning, a Facebook user called ‘Andy Rae’ posted a screenshot of the list of 25 names of alleged drug dealers in Belfast.
On September 6, 2021 a detective from the PSNI conducted a search on Republican Activist Coalition’s Facebook page and saw the screenshot posted by ‘Andy Rae’. An investigation was launched and on March 22, 2022 officers from the PSNI, accompanied by their colleagues from Police Scotland, attended Mr Rae’s flat in Glasgow.
His phone was seized and the image of the list of names that he posted the previous August was still on his device. He was arrested and told police he came across the image as a screenshot, copied it to his phone then posted it on the Facebook page.
Rae also claimed he couldn’t remember where he found it but believed it was an image of something that had appeared on lamp-posts and in bars around Belfast. During the short trial, Mr Rae opted not to give evidence.
Before they went out to deliberate, his barrister Eilis McDermott KC told the jury the question they needed to consider was whether or not the screenshot could provide any practical assistance to a person committing an act of terrorism. She said it was the defence case that “this list goes nowhere near fitting that definition”.
Ms McDermott also told the jury that the list appeared in Belfast prior to Mr Rae posting it on Facebook and that it was not removed from the Republican Activist Coalition’s Facebook page over the period from it first appearing in August 2021 to Mr Rae’s arrest in March 2022.
After deliberating for around 20 minutes, the jury returned its verdict and acquitted Mr Rae of the charge. Judge Patrick Lynch KC then thanked the jury for their service before addressing Mr Rae in the dock and saying to him “you may go”.
Report by Belfast Live
11th December 2024
Mr Rae was represented by Mr Diarmaid Kelly solicitor of Harte Coyle Collins, Solicitors & Advocates with Ms Eilis McDermott K.C. and Mr Paul Burns B.L.
