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Men plead not guilty to manslaughter of three teens outside disco

Catherine MorrisonBBC News NI
News imageEuphoria Allstar Cheerleading/Family/Family A composite image of three young people. One the left is a young girl, Lauren Bullock - she is smiling and has purple eye shadow and is wearing a purple and grey athletic top. In the middle is Morgan Barnard - he has wavy fair hair and glasses. On the right is Connor Currie, he has wavy dark hair and is smiling broadly. He is wearing a red top. Euphoria Allstar Cheerleading/Family/Family
The victims of the Greenvale Hotel crush were Lauren Bullock, 17; Morgan Barnard, 17; and Connor Currie, 16

The owner of a Cookstown hotel and a member of security staff have pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of three teenagers outside a St Patrick's Day disco.

Lauren Bullock, 17, Morgan Barnard, 17, and 16-year-old Connor Currie, died in a crush in 2019.

They were among hundreds of people queuing to enter the Greenvale Hotel.

Michael McElhatton, 58, of Rock Road Moneymore and 47-year-old Seamus Mitchell, of Mullan Road, Coagh, are jointly charged with their unlawful killing.

News imagePacemaker The exterior of the Greenvale Hotel in Cookstown in the aftermath of the fatal crush in March 2019. Only part of the building is visible and it consists of a flat-roofed, two-storey, cream rendered structure, with a gated entrance below a gated balcony area. A large grey fence with cream pillars shields the front of the building from a small car park which is strewn with a few pieces of litter. A black, branded awning protrudes from the building behind the grey fence. A red and white police tape cordons off the scene. Pacemaker
A police cordon was erected outside the Greenvale Hotel following the fatal crush on 17 March 2019

They are also accused of health and safety offences, which both deny.

As each charge was put to them in the dock, they responded "not guilty" to each in turn.

The public gallery was full of the victims' families and friends.

The judge, Madame Justice McBride, addressed them directly. She explained it was her role to try and get the case brought to trial as soon as possible.

She said: "I appreciate this is very distressing, this has been going on for a long, long time. We now have a target date set... there may be reasons why that date is not achieved."

But she said she will endeavour to "robustly" manage the case and have regular reviews.

The trial is expected to last three months and has been given a start date of 5 October 2026.

The next review is listed for January.