‘intent to deceive’ | 

Man allegedly impersonated cop while speaking to traffic warden

Corry, from Ballymoney Road in Ballymena, faces two charges arising from the incident, including impersonating a police officer and harassment

Today at 14:33

A Co Antrim man allegedly pretended to be a police officer “while speaking to a traffic warden”, a court has heard.

During a brief review of the case against Ryan Corry, Ballymena Magistrates Court heard there are question marks over whether the traffic warden had a body-worn camera and whether it was turned on at the time of the alleged incident on October 3 last year.

Corry, from Ballymoney Road in Ballymena, faces two charges arising from the incident, including impersonating a police officer and harassment.

It is alleged that “with intent to deceive”, the 43-year-old impersonated a police officer, “or made a statement or did an act calculated falsely to suggest that he was such a member”.

Corry is also accused of pursuing a course of conduct that amounted to the harassment of a named woman.

Previously, Corry’s defence team had failed in a bid to gag the press from naming him. His lawyers had argued that if there was more reporting on the case against him, there would be a risk of suicide.

But the media successfully argued that his name was already in the public domain and there was no evidence of a real or immediate risk to his life.

Objecting to the reporting restriction, a court journalist argued that the case had already been reported on when Corry was first before the court on October 26 and, given the dates of two alleged suicide attempts at the start of that month, the two do not correlate.

Ruling in favour of the media, allowing Corry to be named, District Judge Nigel Broderick said he was “surprised” why, if there was a real risk, the application would not have been lodged on October 26.

District Judge Broderick also emphasised that Corry “would be well aware” that his case was likely to have been reported on, since he was before the court “for the exact same offences” in February and March 2022.

In court on Thursday, District Judge Broderick adjourned the case to this Tuesday to allow prosecutors to confirm if the traffic warden had body-worn footage and also to allow the defence time to find a way to disclose a video allegedly recorded by Corry on his phone.