Three north Antrim men charged with murder of Steven Peck

by Q Radio News

An attempted murder charge against three North Antrim men was today (mon) amended to murder as their alleged victim has sadly died. 

David Austin (54) and brothers Brian (23) and 28-year-old Stephen McCook did not appear at Coleraine Magistrates Court, sitting in Ballymena, to hear the prosecution apply to amend the charge against them.

The three had been charged with the attempted murder of Steven Peck on 3 January this year but after being subjected to what a detective described as a “vicious beating,” the 33-year-old tragically died on 9 January. 

In court today (mon), a PPS lawyer applied for the indictment to be amended to read that the trio are charged that “you, on the 9 January 2021 murdered Steven Peck contrary to common law.”

While lawyers for Austin and Stephen McCook told District Judge Peter King they “neither consent nor object” to the PPS application, defence counsel Michael Smyth, acting for Brian McCook, did object. 

First pic 28 year old Stephen McCook, second pic 23 year old Brian McCook - the brothers are now jointly accused of murdering Steven Peck alongside 54 year old David Austin. 

He argued that by amending the charge after he had been interviewed, Brian McCook would be denied the opportunity to comment on forensic findings that have since come to light and also on the death of Mr Peck, adding that he wanted his objections formally noted in case “the matter comes before another tribunal in due course.

Granting the prosecution application to amend the charge, DJ King said it was his view such an amendment “does not cause any prejudice” to the defendants. 

“For the Crown to prove attempted murder they have to prove an intent  to kill but for murder they only have to prove an intent to cause serious harm,” explained the judge. 

Austin, from Cherry Gardens in Ballymoney and the McCooks, both from the Urbal Road in Dervock, are jointly accused of the murder of Mr Peck on 9 January this year while Brian McCook also remains charged with the further offences of threatening to kill Mrs Austin and another man who lived in the Austin’s home. 

The McCooks mother (46) Easther McCook, also from the Urbal Road and their 29-year-old sister Lisa Gemmell, are also in custody facing charges arising from the attack. 

Easther McCook standing beside her daughter Lisa Gemmell. 

McCook is accused that knowing an offence had occurred, she provided a false alibi and interfered with witnesses “with intent to impede a murder investigation” while Gemmell, from Union Street in Ballymoney, is alleged to have perverted justice by destroying evidence in relation to the murder. 

When the case first arose last month, a detective involved in the investigation told the court how Mr Peck had been having an affair with Mrs Austin and believed he was meeting his lover on 3 January but instead, he was confronted by her husband David Austin and brothers Stephen and Brian McCook who allegedly subjected him to a “vicious beating” before leaving him lying “basically to die.”

Giving evidence to the court at that time, DC O’Donnell said Mrs Austin was “in a sexual relationship with him,” adding that “we believe...that the motivation for the attack stems from that sexual relationship in that her husband David Austin found out about it and the McCooks, as their friends, helped him and carry out the vicious attack.”

A dog walker saw the stricken Mr Peck lying injured on a path on the Garryduff close to the Joey Dunlop Leisure Centre and alerted authorities who rushed Mr Peck to hospital for treatment. 

DC O’Donnell revealed that “other suspects have been identified” as officers from the Major Investigations team continue their enquiries. 

He told the court that according to Mrs Austin, she was at home and had been “getting a number of phone calls from the injured party.”

It was also part of Mrs Austin’s account, recorded in a video taped police interview, that the three planned the attack in her home, left to carry out the attack and that after they came back, they stayed “for a short while” before leaving together. 

Meanwhile the other key witness, a man who “lives on the sofa” in the Austin’s house, told detectives that when the defendants came back, there was blood on the latex gloves being worn by Austin but that he threw them into the fire. 

The McCook’s, according to the witness, had been wearing black gloves but they too were destroyed in the fire before they left. 

Blood stains on shoes seized from Austin had however proved positive for a match to Mr Peck’s blood, the court heard.

Also missing was the victim’s mobile phone which, according to cell site analysis, was in Ballymoney at the time of the incident but as Mr Peck lay injured, his phone registered at a mobile phone mast in the Dervock area before it then “jumps around” several communication masts. 

“We are still looking for that phone,” said the detective, highlighting that in addition to the risk of witness interference, another strand of objections was the risk posed to the police investigation if the defendants were freed on bail. 

Indeed the officer claimed there had already been a “nefarious and malicious” attempt to hinder the investigation in that a cctv system at the McCook’s home had been reformatted the day after the incident, thereby wiping any previously recorded material. 

In court today (mon) DJ King adjourned the case against Austin and Stephen McCook to 15 February “for a bail application” while all the others were adjourned to 1 March.