MURDERED Saintfield man Pat McCormick will be buried today nearly seven weeks after he disappeared in Comber.
The funeral service for the father of four, whose disappearance on May 30 sparked off a major police investigation, will be held at 1pm at Strean Presbyterian Church in Newtownards where he had worked as a caretaker.
An engaged couple have appeared in court in connection with Mr McCormick’s murder.
David Gill (26), of Ballylighorn Road, Comber, was remanded in custody on a murder charge, while his fiancée and co-accused, Lesley-Ann Dodds, (21) of Mountcollyer Avenue in Belfast, faced charges of aiding and abetting murder and perverting the course of justice.
Both denied the charges when they appeared at Newtownards Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
The court heard that a series of text messages and phone calls may have lured Mr McCormick to his death.
The 55 year-old also feared he was being set up when he visited a flat in Castle Street, Comber.
The court appearances followed just days after Mr McCormick’s remains were discovered in Magherascouse Lough, Ballygowan.
An anonymous tip-off led police to the site and it is understood that his body may have been concealed in a wheelie bin, but police have declined to confirm this.
A detective inspector told District Judge Rosalie Prytherch that Gill had replied to the charge: “I’m not guilty, I’m completely innocent.”
The court heard that a series of phone calls and text messages were exchanged between the two accused and Mr McCormick before he disappeared on May 30.
The detective inspector said that “as a direct result of a call” from Dodds’ phone, Mr McCormick, a former UDR soldier, visited the flat in the Castle Street area.
CCTV footage showed Gill, who was in possession of his fiancée’s phone, entering the block of flats before leaving two and a half hours later.
Mr McCormick was never seen alive again.
The detective said that Mr McCormick was apprehensive about the arranged meeting in the flat, adding: “He had been anxious about attending that address as he feared he was being set up.”
There was no bail application made for Gill. However, Dodds applied for bail and the detective inspector strongly objected to it, although it confirmed in court that she was not “physically” involved in the murder of Mr McCormick or the removal of his body.
The detective inspector also told the court that the couple were the subject of a threat issued on June 5.
She also said that Dodds suffered from mental health problems since the murder and is considered to be at risk of self-harming.
A lawyer for Dodds told the court that she had never been in court before, would live with her father if granted bail and did not have the means to leave the jurisdiction.
However, Judge Prytherch denied bail but added that Dodds had the right to appeal.
Relatives of Mr McCormick, who was called William but was known at Pat, were in the public gallery during the hearing. They included his wife, Alison, who lives with their four children in Newtownards, and his brother, Harry.
Gill and Dodds will appear again by video link at Newtownards Magistrates’ Court on August 2.