{"id":1072459,"date":"2026-07-06T17:50:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T17:50:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1072459\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T17:50:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T17:50:56","slug":"man-appears-in-dock-to-deny-historic-murder-of-part-time-member-of-the-udr-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1072459\/","title":{"rendered":"Man appears in dock to deny historic murder of part-time member of the UDR \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">A Cavan man appeared in the dock of Belfast Crown Court on Monday where he denied the historic murder of a part-time member of the UDR.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">James Donegan, who is 68 and from Bruce Manor in Arvagh, had three charges levelled at him including the murder of Joseph Porter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">A farmer and part-time UDR member, Mr Porter (64) was shot and killed close to his home on the Creggan Road in Mountnorris, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/tags\/co-armagh\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/tags\/co-armagh\/\">Co Armagh<\/a> in June 1979.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">After entering the dock, Donegan was charged with murdering Joseph James Porter on a date between June 22 and 25, 1979.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/news\/northern-ireland\/disruption-and-closures-due-on-nis-busiest-motorway-this-month-during-15m-resurfacing-scheme-SNPASK5N2RAZDGP7X6VWAUHEKQ\/\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Disruption and closures due on Northern Ireland&#x2019;s busiest motorway this month during &#xA3;1.5m resurfacing scheme\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6RNPT53ERVOUJG43KZFTQX5FCE.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/><\/a><a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/news\/northern-ireland\/emergency-services-attend-serious-accident-in-west-belfast-5IXLUINQH5EL7EHXFG3A34SARI\/\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" alt=\"Motorcyclist left with &#x2018;serious injuries&#x2019; following west Belfast incident\" class=\"c-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/LIUJJ6D6IZEP3GYWETJLXTSEAY.jpg\"  width=\"800\" height=\"450\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">When asked by a court clerk if he pleaded guilty or not guilty to the murder charge, Donegan replied \u201cnot guilty\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">He was then charged with possessing a firearm and ammunition, namely a Ruger Mini 14 rifle and assorted cartridges, on a date unknown between June 22 and 25, 1979, with intent to endanger life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Donegan again replied \u201cnot guilty\u201d when asked to enter a plea to the firearms charge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">In addition, the accused was charged with belonging to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/tags\/the-troubles\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.irishnews.com\/tags\/the-troubles\/\">Irish Republican Army<\/a> within the same time frame as the other two charges and pleaded \u201cnot guilty\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Following this, a Crown barrister told Mr Justice Fowler a list of \u201cagreed witnesses\u201d had been sent to the defence, 11 of whom are now deceased.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">A defence barrister then revealed he would be seeking a fingerprint expert.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Mr Justice Fowler set a date for the three-week trial to start on February 8, 2027 but said he would review the case on September 18.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">After no objections were raised, Donegan was released on continuing bail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Cavan man appeared in the dock of Belfast Crown Court on Monday where he denied the historic&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1072460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[80374,188,22306,1144,13136,6568,16,15],"class_list":["post-1072459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-co-armagh","tag-crime","tag-ira","tag-northern-ireland","tag-republic-of-ireland","tag-the-troubles","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116874307850329978","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1072459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1072459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1072459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1072460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1072459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1072459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1072459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}