A MAN said to have been the getaway driver for the killers of Limerick man Eddie Ryan Senior allegedly later admitted his involvement and retraced the route taken for gardaí, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

The evidence was heard in a special Saturday sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday in the murder trial of Paul Coffey, (25) formerly of Derryfada, Clonlara, Co Clare.

The court sat at the request of the jury, which had rejected the offer of adjourning the trial to September at the end of the legal term later this week. Instead, two jurors cancelled holiday plans they had made for the first week of August, and the jury indicated it was willing to sit longer hours every day and over weekends in order to get the trial finished.

In evidence from Detective Garda Gerard Hogan, the court heard that the accused man, Paul Coffey, who denies the murder of Eddie Ryan Senior (41) in Limerick city on 12 November 2000, first denied any involvement in the killing or in a feud connected with it, but later admitted his role.

Eddie Ryan was gunned down by two masked men in a Limerick city bar, the jury heard. The prosecution alleges that Paul Coffey was the driver of the getaway car, "aided and abetted" the killing, and took directions from the gunmen.

Detective Garda Hogan said he was acting on confidential information he had received when he arrested Coffey on the morning of 7 December 2000.

The detective said that during his detention, Coffey went with gardaí in an unmarked garda car and pointed out the route he took to drive the killers to the Moose Bar in Cathedral Place on the night of the shooting. He also pointed out the housing estate where he dropped the gunmen after the shooting and the location where he set fire to the stolen getaway car, the court heard.

Paul Coffey denies the charge of murder.