North Belfast man remanded in custody accused of having a rifle magazine and ammunition

A north Belfast man has faced a court charged with firearms offences.

Stephen Jones, from Cliftonville Avenue, is charged with having a rifle magazine and 29 bullets under suspicious circumstances on 24 September.

The 49-year-old was remanded into custody to Maghaberry Prison despite attempts by his lawyer to have him freed.

On Saturday morning, Belfast Magistrates’ Court was told by a PSNI detective that he could connect Jones to the charges.

However, it was not the first time Jones had faced a court and that he had been wrongfully remanded into jail two weeks ago.

Solicitor Philip Breen argued however that as Jones had initially been charged and remanded into jail on legislation that did not exist, “I have issues about the legality of this remand”.

Mr Breen submitted there “would have to be some change” to permit the same charges to be brought before the cou

District Judge Ken Nixon disagreed and said that the charge was “quite rightly before the court”.

He remanded Jones back into custody to appear again via video link on November 1.