A legal application to dismiss a case against a man charged with making a bomb that was planted under a police officer's vehicle was launched today (Wednesday).

Branding the prosecution case against Co. Fermanagh man Peter Granaghan, 41, from Blackrock Park in Belleek, as circumstantial and lacking in evidence, defence barrister John Larkin QC said there was "no case to answer".

The non-jury trial was opened at Belfast Crown Court last month, and following the close of the prosecution case, Mr. Larkin made the defence’s application.

The IED at the centre of the trial was discovered by an off-duty officer who drove his Cherokee jeep from his home to Shandon Park Golf Club in east Belfast on Saturday, June 1, 2019

Both the army and police were tasked to the club's car park, and a controlled explosion on the bomb, which was packed with TNT, was carried out.

It is the Crown's case that Granaghan's DNA was located on a piece of wire on the bomb and that he was involved in the construction of the device which was planted by others.

The 41-year old was charged with – and denies – attempting to murder a serving member of the PSNI, and both making and possessing explosives with intent to endanger life.

Both the Crown and defence made submissions to the Belfast Recorder on the “no case to answer” application.

As he mounted the application, Mr. Larkin quoted a Court of Appeal ruling that “fragile threats do not make a strong rope”, and accused the Crown of failing to establish exactly what Granaghan had done, and the role he had played.

Mr. Larkin said the Crown had failed to establish whether his client's DNA was deposited on the wire by either a primary, secondary or ternary means.

He added the Crown had also been unable to provide any evidence to suggest "when, where or how it was deposited on the wire".

The defence barrister also criticised circumstantial evidence which was presented by the Crown during the trial.

This included material removed from Granaghan's home which supported Republican resistance, being visited by men with terrorist convictions whilst on remand, and attending political protests.

Saying "association is not tantamount to guilt", Mr. Larkin urged Judge Fowler to consider the Crown's "gaping absence of evidence", and to grant the application of 'no case to answer' against his client.

Rejecting the application, Crown barrister Ciaran Murphy QC branded Granaghan a "key player" in a joint enterprise to kill or main a police officer that was carried out by a "violent strain of Republicanism".

Mr. Murphy told Judge Fowler there was no dispute that Granaghan's DNA was the only such profile on the device, and that it was located both on the inside and outside of the bomb, which suggested he was involved in its construction.

The prosecutor addressed the circumstantial evidence which included "a group of convicted terrorists visiting Mr. Granaghan in prison".

Mr. Murphy said it was accepted by the Crown that the DNA evidence alone was not sufficient.

He added: "However, in the circumstances of his background, animosity towards police and association with terrorists ... we say all this provides sufficient evidence to make the DNA evidence compelling."

After listening to both parties, Judge Fowler said he wanted time to consider the submissions, and said he would give his ruling at a later date.

Granaghan – who has attended every day of the trial in person, as opposed to video link – was remanded back into custody.