Constable Stephen Carroll lured to his death in a bogus 999 call

TWO dissident republicans jailed for the Continuity IRA murder of PSNI officer Stephen Carroll have lost an appeal against their convictions.

Brendan McConville, 42, of Glenholme Avenue in Craigavon, and 22-year-old John Paul Wootton, from Colindale in Lurgan, are serving life sentences.

The pair had attempted to overturn their convictions but their appeal was dismissed at the High Court in Belfast on Thursday.

Constable Carroll was shot dead as he responded to a bogus 999 call in Craigavon in 2009 – the first officer to be killed since the PSNI was formed nine years earlier.

Dismissing the appeal, Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan said he and his fellow appeal judges were satisfied that the original verdict had been correct.

“The surrounding circumstances in our view formed a compelling case that each of these appellants was guilty of the offences with which they were charged,” he said.

McConville is serving at least a 25-year-sentence for the murder.

Wootton, who was a teenager at the time of the attack, received a minimum 14-year term.