A diver who recovered the remains of 47-year old Cookstown man Damien Heagney from a reservoir in Co Tyrone has given evidence at his murder trial.
Mr Heagney was last seen alive at the end of December 2021. He was reported missing in July 2022 and the following month his dismembered remains were located in Cappagh reservoir.
Stephen McCourt (41), from Riverview in Augher, has been charged with, and has denied, murdering Mr Heagney on a date unknown between December 29 2021 and January 7 2022.
The commercial driver was called to give evidence at the second day of the murder trial and confirmed that after his supervisor was contacted by the PSNI, he attended Cappagh Reservoir on the morning of August 10 2022.
He said prior to entering the water, police at the scene said gave a briefing saying the search was for potential human remains, keys, weapons, a blood-stained carpet and possibly a dog.
The diver said following this he entered the water and began making sweeping arcs.
When asked by Crown barrister Gary McHugh KC what he observed, the diver said that whilst there was “very bad visibility” and that he “couldn’t see much”, he said “I was going through the reeds and something hit my leg. I looked down and there was a foot. I realised I has found human remains”.
The diver said he made the discover within around ten minutes of entering the reservoir and that upon further inspection, he could see the remains were “wrapped in fence wire around the knees”.
Telling the jury at Belfast Crown Court that the remains were part of a human body that appeared to have been “cut in half”, the diver said they were located around a foot above the bed of the reservoir.
The diver said that following the discovery, he informed people on the shore and shouted a codeword that indicated he had found a body.
He was then told to continue performing sweeping arcs in the water and said “almost straight away” he found “what appeared to be a white bag that was wrapped in the same fencing wire that was round the legs of the first find”.
When asked by Mr McHugh “could you see if anything was in the bag?”, the diver said he “couldn’t see anything in the bag”.
Following the discoveries of the two ‘finds’, the diver said he exited the water. When asked what happened next, he said: “A policeman came along and told me to get back into my gear and go back and retrieve the legs and the bag.”
Mr McHugh then asked about the ‘first find’ and the diver said “the feet were facing each other, which was unusual”.
He told the court that after retrieving the items from the water, a bid was made to “hide what we could” from press photographers who had gathered at the scene “we didn’t want any pictures” due to “respect for the family” of the deceased.
The jury also heard evidence from a police constable who spoke to Mr Heagney at a forest park in Cookstown on Christmas Day 2021.
The policeman said he stopped Mr Heagney in his BMW and asked to check his driving licence, and that during this he located several Pregablin tablets which he said were a Class C drug.
The constable said Mr Heagney was “very irate” and said the Pregablin had been prescribed to him and provided the name of a pharmacy.
Mr Heagney was cautioned and left the scene.
When asked if he followed up enquiries, the officer said he contacted the doctor’s surgery and could find “no evidence” to back up Mr Heagney’s claim.
The officer revealed he then imputed data onto an internal police system stating Mr Heagney was ‘wanted’ in connection with the drugs.
At hearing.