A man has appeared in court in Belfast charged with the murder of a prison officer.
The New IRA admitted responsibility for a bomb attack on the van belonging to 52-year-old Adrian Ismay on 4 March.
Ismay died on Monday, and the Police Service of Northern Ireland later confirmed his death was directly linked to the injuries he sustained in the explosion in east Belfast.
Christopher Alphonsos Robinson, from the Dunmurry area, appeared at Belfast magistrates court on Friday charged with the prison officer’s murder. The 45-year-old had previously been charged with attempted murder but the charge was upgraded following a postmortem.
Robinson refused to stand in court when the new charge was read out to him on Friday.
During the brief hearing a defence solicitor said a second postmortem would be carried out and the results would be made known in the next few days. His client has been in custody since Saturday when he was arrested in connection with the New IRA attack.
