Derry IT expert charged with terrorism offences in relation to PSNI Date breach refused Benidorm holiday permission

A judge at a hearing on Wednesday of this week rejected suggestions Christopher O’Kane, 51, should be allowed to spend a week in the Spanish coastal destination with his family on human rights grounds.

O’Kane, of Main Street in Feeny, Co Derry, is currently on bail accused of possessing two mobile phones for use in terrorism.

He is also accused of having documents likely to be useful to terrorists - namely the spreadsheet of names.

In August last year personal information on a total of 9,500 serving PSNI officers and civilian staff was mistakenly published in response to a Freedom of Information request.

Details released included the surname and first initial of every employee, their rank or grade, and department. Home addresses were not revealed.

Days later it was reported that dissident republicans had accessed the information.

O’Kane’s home was searched on August 18 as part of the police response.

Prosecutors claimed at a previous hearing that he tried to conceal one phone, while a second mobile phone was located under a bedroom pillow.

Examinations established that the spreadsheet of officers' names had been sent to one of the devices by WhatsApp message and downloaded before the message was deleted.

With the information still accessible offline, O’Kane was described as someone highly efficient in technology who had allegedly tried to wipe his digital footprint.

Sections of the material sent to his phone were said to have been highlighted, including those featuring senior executive teams in the PSNI and officers based in the Derry area.

Two other individual officers were also allegedly highlighted.

Within hours of receiving the WhatsApp message, the accused allegedly accessed a website used to search for residential addresses.

Defence lawyers argued that O’Kane deleted the file and said that he is no risk to any police officers.

The IT consultant was characterised as a “computer geek” who wrongly became a suspect just because of his affiliations to Irish republicanism.

O’Kane sought a relaxation in his bail terms in order to go on the family holiday to Benidorm later this year.

Opposing the application, prosecution counsel argued that release conditions could not be managed while he was abroad.

“The risks are grave in relation to the facts of this case,” she claimed.

Defence barrister Sean Mullan stressed during the hearing on Wednesday that the seven-day holiday had been booked back in early 2023.

Citing Article 8 rights to family life under the European Convention on Human Rights, Mr Mullan said O’Kane and his partner had talked about “making memories” with family on the trip.

However, Mr Justice Kinney refused permission for O’Kane to be allowed to go on the holiday based on concerns about being able to monitor the accused.

He ruled: “I’m not convinced that Article 8 is engaged… (or) satisfied that the merits of a holiday outweigh the risks posed by this individual.”