Derry MP Colum Eastwood will accept informed warning in Gaza procession case court told

Colum Eastwood (42) of Duncreggan Road, Goretti Horgan (70) of Westland Avenue, Davina Pulis (36) of Knoxhill Park, Robert Paul Maxwell (60) of Rathlin Drive and Jude Coffey (27) of Gartan Square along with councillor Shaun Harkin (52) of Beechwood Avenue, all in Derry, are charged with taking part in an illegal procession on February 14 2024, and in Harkin's case, February 17 in support of Palestine.

At Wednesday's sitting of Derry Magistrate's Court, Ciaran Shiels, a solicitor acting for Eastwood said that his client would be accepting the diversion offered, which is known as an informed warning and the case was adjourned until November 5 to allow that to be administered.

Meanwhile, Sinead Rogan, the barrister for several of the other defendants said that an informed warning was not acceptable in all of the other cases.

She said that she wanted to 'narrow down witnesses' in the case and go through the papers before setting a date for a contest.

District Judge Ted Magill said that a special day would be required for the hearing.

He adjourned the case against the five defendants until November 12 to see if a special day could be found in the court calendar.

All of the defendants are currently on bail.

At a hearing earlier this month, it was said that the cases against charged in connection with taking part in a procession in support of Palestine would either be resolved or a date fixed for contest.

At that earlier hearing, Ciaran Shiels said a diversion had been offered after 'extensive submissions' on the issue of the public interest aspect to the decision to prosecute.

A prosecutor said that there had been a decision to offer a diversion.

District Judge Ted Magill said at that hearing that the prosecution and defence should see if a resolution could be found in relation to the cases. If not, it was confirmed that a date would be fixed for a contest.