The families of two young British soldiers gunned down by dissident republicans at Massereene will tomorrow come face-to-face with the men accused of their murder.
Relatives of Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimkar will hear in heart-breaking detail how their sons died in a hail of bullets outside the Co Antrim British Army base two years ago.
Both families are expected to be in Antrim Crown Court when leading Lurgan republican Colin Duffy (43) and Brian Shivers (45) from Magherafelt, Co Derry, go on trial for the double murder.
Duffy and Shivers are pleading not guilty. They've still to decide whether to take the stand during the trial which will last between four and five weeks.
The soldiers were shot dead – hours before they were due to go to Afghanistan – as they collected food from pizza delivery men outside the base.
CCTV footage of the gunmen's car pulling up near the barracks and the sappers tragic last seconds alive will be shown at the trial.
Photographs of 21-year-old Patrick Azimkar and 23-year-old Mark Quinsey lying dead on the ground may also be displayed. Over 60 shots were fired by the gunmen. Autopsy reports of the soldiers' horrific injuries will be read in court.
The attack in March 2009 was claimed by the Real IRA but it has since been revealed that recently defected members of the Provisional IRA were also involved.
The trial poignantly takes places just a few miles from the spot where the soldiers were executed. The case was expected to be heard in Belfast Crown Court where major paramilitary cases are usually held.
But with the UVF supergrass trial still running at the Laganside complex, the authorities feared clashes between loyalists and supporters of Duffy and Shivers.
Relatives of the two republicans will now travel to the trial in staunchly unionist Antrim every day. Duffy's family have mounted a high-profile campaign claiming his innocence and have picketed earlier court hearings. They could stage a protest tomorrow.
Police are mounting a major security operation for the trial with at least 200 officers on duty and more on standby. Last week, the PSNI staged a 'dry run' with police swamping the small town.
There's massive pressure on the authorities to secure convictions. The PSNI and the PPS have suffered a string of embarrassing failures in other high-profile cases including the Omagh bombing, the Robert McCartney murder, and the Northern Bank robbery.
The prosecution is expected to call as witnesses two other soldiers wounded in the attack and the pizza delivery men who were also shot.
While the four injured men can provide terrifying accounts of the ruthless onslaught, their evidence doesn't link Duffy or Shivers to the murder.
The crown initially alleged Duffy was one of the two gunmen who opened fire on the soldiers but that claim has since been dropped. Sources say CCTV footage showed Duffy didn't match the height of either gunman.
Two witnesses also failed to pick him out in separate ID parades. Defence lawyers will offer evidence allegedly proving he wasn't at the murder scene.
The case against the two republicans rests on DNA samples. The gunmen escaped in a green Vauxhall car which was abandoned in a country lane eight miles away.
The vehicle was doused in petrol and set on fire but only partially burnt as the killers accidentally left open a window. Duffy's DNA was allegedly discovered on the tip of a latex glove found in the getaway car.
Soil samples from a holdall in the car – which contained camouflage jackets, balaclavas, and ammunition – are also said to be similar to those found on a boot belonging to Duffy.
The prosecution case against Shivers is based on his DNA allegedly being on matches and a mobile phone found in the car. The Sunday World understands the DNA of another person was also on these items.
Crown lawyers haven't specified the role Duffy or Shivers allegedly played in the double murder. But they'll insist the DNA evidence overwhelmingly links both men to the attack.
Prosecution QC, Terence Mooney, will argue they were part of a conspiracy to murder. Duffy's defence team is led by Barry McDonald QC.
Brian Shivers is represented by leading London barrister, Paddy O'Connor, who previously acted for members of the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six and is currently representing victims of the London 7/7 bombings.
Both Duffy and Shivers are challenging the DNA evidence. The defence is flying in a range of international experts including a US DNA expert, a CCTV specialist from Britain, and a soil expert from New Zealand.
Duffy, who was for decades associated with Sinn Féin, broke links with the party after becoming disillusioned with its political direction. Currently on a dirty protest in Maghaberry jail, sources say his appearance will shock the courtroom. Like other republican prisoners, he's been refusing to shave and now has a long, unkempt beard.
Shivers, who has cystic fibrosis, is on bail because of his medical condition. Unlike Duffy, he wasn't a household name until his arrest. His father Pat, a civil rights' activist, was one of 12 internees known as the 'hooded men' whom the British used as human guinea pigs for horrendous sensory deprivation experiments in 1971.
Friends of the murdered soldiers' families are worried that they will find the trial immensely traumatic. Quinsey's mother, Pamela Brankin, was recently involved in a serious car crash in Birmingham.
She was in hospital for six weeks and at one stage was on life support. It's her second road accident since her beloved only son's murder. Friends say she hasn't even begun to come to terms with losing him.
Patrick Azimkar's mother's family originally come from Co Derry. The dead soldier's father previously revealed how his son had felt at home from the moment he arrived in the North: "He loved it. He wanted to stay there, even after leaving the army," Mehmet Azimkar said.
Patrick's mother Geraldine said she'd never feared for his life as she'd believed the Troubles were over and peace was secured after the Good Friday Agreement. Denouncing her son's killers, she added: "What did they gain by destroying his life, our lives, and the other soldier's life? What the hell did they gain?"
In an interview with this journalist shortly after Massereene, a Real IRA Army Council representative revealed how the attack had been clinically executed.
"When the pizza men arrived at the barracks, there was a crowd of British soldiers standing outside, not just four as has been publicly stated. Two volunteers got out of the car. One opened up on the barracks' sangar," he stated.
"The civilian guard inside, whom we believe was armed with a handgun, didn't return fire. The second volunteer opened fire on the Brits and the pizza delivery men. Some of the Brits (ran) back into the base. But the other Brits and the pizza men fell to the ground."
The Real IRA leader chillingly described how the gunmen then "moved in to finish off" the soldiers from close range. "At the time, our volunteers believed they'd killed four Brits," he said unflinchingly.
