Coroner wants remaining evidence in Kelly’s Bar bombing inquest heard in January

A coroner has said he wants the remaining evidence in an inquest into the death of a teenager in a Belfast bomb attack 50 years ago to be heard in January.

John Moran was 19 when he was seriously injured in an explosion at Kelly’s Bar on the Springfield Road on May 13 1972, and died of his injuries 10 days later.

His girlfriend was pregnant at the time and he never met his son.

The pub was packed with people watching a televised football match between England and West Germany when the car bomb exploded.

An inquest into Mr Moran’s death opened earlier this year, but was then paused.

During a brief preliminary hearing on Wednesday, coroner Joe McCrisken was given an update on the status of evidence of outstanding witnesses.

He was told a new civilian witness who was at the scene after the explosion had come forward.

Mr McCrisken said: “I would like to secure two further days in court in January to finish the evidence in this inquest.”

He told interested parties they would be contacted with a date when the inquest would sit again.

When the inquest opened earlier this year at Banbridge Courthouse, counsel for the coroner Declan Quinn said the central issue to be examined was who planted the bomb.

He told the inquest it would hear evidence that the explosion was the result of a co-ordinated UVF attack.

Another man, Thomas McIlroy, died in a shooting after the bombing, while a third victim, Gerard Clarke, died of his injuries 17 years later.