Court told about Stone gun threat

Stone was arrested during the incident at Stormont in 2006

A Stormont security guard has told Belfast Crown Court how Michael Stone pointed a gun at his face and told him to run or he was "a dead man".

Alistair Hoy confronted Stone as he spray-painted graffiti outside Stormont in November 2006.

Stone, of no fixed address, denies attempting to murder Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness and 12 other charges.

Earlier, the PSNI officer who prepared the file in the trial admitted it was wrong not to view unedited TV footage.

Mr Hoy told the court after he asked Stone what he was doing, "he turned towards me and reached into his pocket and produced a handgun and pointed it in the direction of my face".

He said he immediately recognised Stone and ran "zig zag" to raise the alarm.

However, he said that as it was his very first day on the job, some of his colleagues thought he was joking.

The security guard told the court that afterwards, while Stone was being held by his colleagues, he approached Stone who "looked me in the eye and shouted 'you didn't want to run - you are a brave soldier'".

Asked if the experience had affected him, Mr Hoy said that while it did for a while, "I'm none the worse for wear".

'Art'

Earlier on Tuesday, footage from RTE shown in the court included a journalist saying as the media was being evacuated "it's an art thing, he told me about it".

The journalist added: "He had a handgun but I met him (Stone) a couple of weeks ago and he told me he was going to do something big for devolution day."

The police had a tape containing this but Detective Sergeant Ian Pollard told the court no-one looked at it

Cross-examined by defence barrister Arthur Harvey QC, he admitted it would have been an important line to pursue and asked, if it was relevant, he replied "yes".

Det Sgt Pollard also admitted while he had been made aware of the journalist's comments in recent days, the first time he had heard it himself was when it was played in court.

He told the judge: "I am possibly at fault. I apologise to the court for that."

Along with attempted murder, Stone is also charged with possession of explosives, three knives, an axe, a garrotte and an imitation firearm.

The trial continues.