Charlie Love convicted over attempted murder of PSNI officers in Strabane bomb attack
A Co Tyrone man has been found guilty at Belfast Crown Court of attempting to murder two PSNI officers in a bomb attack in Strabane later claimed by the New IRA.
The court convicted Charlie Love on all four charges he faced.
Mr Justice Fowler said he was satisfied Love was intimately connected with the planning and execution of what he described as a dissident terrorist bomb attack on a police car with two officers on board.
The judge said he was satisfied the defendant intended that police officers would be killed.
Love was also convicted of possessing explosives and causing an explosion likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property.
The attack took place in the Mount Carmel Heights area of Strabane on the evening of 17 November 2022.
Two officers were in an unmarked armoured Skoda Superb at around 11pm when they reported seeing a flash and hearing a massive bang.
The case is significant because it ends with a court finding over a bomb attack directed at police officers in Northern Ireland and links the incident to dissident republican violence.
The judge rejected suggestions that it was simply an elaborate incident to scare or terrorise the police.
