Bail ‘most firmly refused’ for man accused over rooftop stand-off with police

By Rebecca Black (Press Association)

Bail has been “most firmly refused” for a man accused of having been in a rooftop stand-off with police in north Belfast.

A number of cars were damaged and a police officer was injured after a man climbed on to a roof in Lepper Street in the New Lodge area in the early hours of Tuesday.

Patrick John Paul Harmon, 42, of Hillman Street, appeared at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Thursday morning.

He faces 14 charges including assault of three police officers.

The charges also include assault against two other named people and criminal damage against cars and property, exposure and possession of an offensive weapon described as a knife.

A police officer indicated they believe they can connect the accused to the charges.

They told the court the defendant was apprehended by police after falling off the roof, and arrested.

“During interview he admitted to threatening police with a knife, stating he was trying to get them to back away,” they said, adding that he denied the assaults.

“When talking about the police interaction, he admitted to wilfully causing damage to police cars and throwing tiles at officers in an attempt to injure them, saying, ‘If they weren’t behind a shield, they were fair game’.”

Police opposed bail saying there was a risk of reoffending, risk of harm to the public, and that they did not believe he could be managed on bail.

A defence lawyer said his client felt he was being “wrongly taken by the police as he had done nothing wrong”, adding that he then accepted he had “got out on to the roof to try and get away from police, and accepts he took slates off”.

The lawyer acknowledged it was a “difficult” bail application, but said that with “appropriate and stringent conditions” the man could be appropriate for bail.

District Judge Anne Marshall responded: “You describe it as difficult, I describe it as utterly impossible.

“There are absolutely no circumstances whatsoever that this man could be managed on bail.

“Bail is most firmly refused, risk of reoffending being extremely high, risk of not turning up as well, and probably a multitude of other reasons.”

The case is next to be mentioned on August 27.