A TYRONE man has been found guilty of attempting to murder two police officers in a bomb attack in Strabane, after a judge ruled he was ‘intimately connected’ to the planning and execution of what he described as a ‘violent dissident terrorism agenda’.
Charlie Love, 31, from Bridge Street in Strabane, was convicted at Belfast Crown Court on four charges arising from the attack on November 17, 2022.
Mr Justice Fowler said he was satisfied that Love intended that police officers would be killed, rejecting defence claims that the explosion was merely an attempt to frighten officers.
Delivering his judgment in the non-jury trial, the judge said Love’s actions were ‘more than merely preparatory’ and that the defendant was directly involved in both the planning and execution of the bomb attack. He added that Love was present ‘at the scene of the explosion when the bomb was detonated’.
Love was convicted of the attempted murder of Officer A and Officer B, possessing explosives, and causing an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property. He will be sentenced in September.
The court heard that Love’s DNA was found on a modified cordless drill – described by the Crown as the ‘trigger mechanism for the device’ – and on a command wire recovered from the scene. Traces of the military-grade explosive RDX were also detected.
Love denied all charges and refused to answer questions during police interviews.
PSNI search teams gather evidence from waste ground at Mount Carmel heights following the attack on two police officers in November 2022.
Mr Justice Fowler said the defendant’s silence required careful consideration, but concluded that ‘a sensible explanation for silence’ was that Love had ‘no answers that could stand up to scrutiny’.
The judge also noted Love’s admission that he was in the area at the time of the explosion and that he did not have his phone with him – a detail the court viewed as significant.
Love later provided a prepared statement claiming he had been approached by a man linked to Saoradh, which police describe as the political wing of the New IRA. He said he was asked to take a drill in a bag to waste ground at Mount Carmel Heights as a ‘favour’, but insisted he had no knowledge of any planned attack.
Defence lawyers argued that the Crown had failed to prove Love intended to kill the officers, and that no one could have predicted police would be in the area that night. Mr Justice Fowler rejected this, saying the attack was clearly part of a ‘dissident terrorist bomb attack on a police car with two officers on board’.
He concluded, “I am satisfied that it was the defendant’s intention that police officers would be killed.”