Bryson 'sent private messages to Sinn Féin' but denies secret deal

The loyalist activist Jamie Bryson has admitted sending private messages to Sinn Féin's Daithí McKay before appearing at a Stormont committee but denied they made a secret deal.

Mr Bryson has been on trial for the past three weeks along with two others, including Mr McKay, on charges related to misconduct in public office.

They all deny the charges against them

The Crown's case is that Mr McKay and Mr Bryson manipulated how evidence was presented to a Northern Ireland Assembly committee meeting on 23 September 2015.

The finance committee was investigating Northern Ireland property loans by the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).

The finance committee meeting was chaired by Mr McKay, and the court heard that he and Mr Bryson exchanged a series of direct messages on Twitter in the weeks before the hearing.

During his appearance at the committee in 2015, Mr Bryson spoke about how Northern Ireland property loans were handled by the National Asset Management Agency, known as Nama.

He made an allegation about the then leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Peter Robinson, which was later denied and described by the politician as "scurrilous".

Giving evidence in the trial for the first time, Mr Bryson told the court: "I made no agreement with Daithí McKay that he would do anything."

He added: "We weren't bosom buddies. We'd spent probably the last three or four years kicking lumps out of each other in the media."

Asked why he made contact with Mr McKay on Twitter before the committee meeting, Mr Bryson said he had lobbied all of the main parties on the committee before giving evidence.

He insisted he did not want to break any rules by appearing at the committee and claimed that the content of the Twitter exchanges showed this to be the case.

Mr Bryson told the court: "I don't say 'I'm coming along to tell a bunch of lies, help us out?'."

The prosecution said Mr Bryson and Mr McKay were involved in an attempt to subvert the rules of the committee, in order to cause "considerable political embarrassment" to a number of people, including Mr Robinson.

Mr Bryson, 35, from Rosepark, in Donaghadee, County Down, denies a charge of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.

Mr McKay, 43, from Loughan Road, Dunamanagh, County Tyrone, denies a charge of misconduct in public office.

Another man, who was a Sinn Féin member at the time, is also on trial.

Thomas O'Hara, 41, from Lisnahunshin Road, Cullybackey, County Antrim, faces a charge of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office, which he denies.

The Crown alleges he, like Mr McKay, was involved in an exchange of messages with Mr Bryson in the run up to the committee meeting.

Mr Bryson told the court that Mr McKay put him in contact with Mr O'Hara.

It was suggested that Mr O'Hara's role as a Sinn Féin worker meant he operated as a "back channel" to Mr McKay but Mr Bryson rejected this.

He said: "I essentially took it as Mr McKay palming me off to a policy worker."

Mr Bryson insisted he did "nothing improper" by giving evidence in the way he did to the Stormont committee about Nama.

The trial continues.