Murder court told of 'card print'

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A fingerprint of a 16-year-old boy accused of a pensioner's murder was found on one of the victim's cards, the High Court has been told.

The teenager, who cannot be named, is charged with murdering Francis O'Neill in Omagh earlier this month.

Mr O'Neill, who was 78, was stabbed and strangled in his Brook Valley home.

The court heard that a wallet containing three cards in the name of Mr O'Neill was found by police in the accused's home. Bail was refused.

Crown lawyer Kate McKay said that when asked about the wallet the accused allegedly denied either seeing it or touching it.

Mrs McKay said: "However, a fingerprint examination of the wallet and its contents identified a fingerprint of the applicant on one of the cards."

It was also revealed that police have spoken to more than 70 potential witnesses, with further inquiries planned.

The court also heard that the accused had allegedly been at Mr O'Neill's home on the day he was killed, although the time of this visit remained unclear.

Dismissing the application for bail, Mr Justice Weatherup emphasised how the victim had been strangled as well as suffering a neck wound.

He said: "It could not be contended this cause of death occurred other than by a deliberate action, contrary to what might be said if there was a single stab wound."

The judge said the time of death had not been disclosed to the court.

If that was established, witnesses would have to be spoken to in order to piece together movements on the day, he said.

"The risk seems to me to be such that it is necessary to remand him in custody.

"It may be that further inquiries will distance him from the time of death, at which time this matter may have to be reconsidered."

The body of Mr O'Neill, a retired psychiatric nurse, was discovered in his ground floor flat on 11 April.