, Judge Patricia Smyth, who presided over the non-jury trial, said she was satisfied both men were guilty of the charges levelled against them.

Damien Duffy, 55, from from Westclare Court in Dungannon and 31-year old Shea Reynolds, from Kilwilkie Road, in Lurgan, were convicted of six joint offences committed over a timeframe between September 3 and 21, 2016.

Judge Smyth found both men guilty of two counts of the preparation of terrorist acts, two counts of possessing articles for use in terrorism and two counts of attempting to collect or make records of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

The charges relate to the deployment of a wildlife camera which was installed by the defendants in a bid to gather information for terrorism. On the evening of September 4, 2016 both men were involved in deploying the wildlife camera on the Annaghone Road in Coalisland.

They travelled from Lurgan to Coalisland in a grey Volkswagon Golf driven by Reynolds where they deployed the device. The camera remained in situ until September 8, 2016 when the pair returned to retrieve it.

It was then deployed in the driveway of the home of a retired police officer referred to by Judge Smyth as 'Mr X' on September 14, 2016.

The following morning, he spotted the item and contacted the PSNI who replaced the camera with a dummy. Duffy and Reynolds then returned to the scene on September 20 and removed what was now a dummy camera.

During the trial, it emerged that Reynolds' fingerprint was found on the camera, whilst there was also evidence that a phone attributed to Duffy had been used to conduct internet searches.

The Crown said these searches, which were carried out after the pair had retrieved the dummy camera, indicated that Duffy was looking for information on why no images could be retrieved from an SD card.

Both men were charged on September 26, 2016 and whilst Duffy made no reply Reynolds said "I have no knowledge whatsoever that the camera was to be used for the acts of terrorism."

Judge Smyth said: "The only reasonable inference to be drawn from the deployment of a Swann Wildlife camera in the driveway of a retired police officer's home is that whoever was responsible intended that it should be preparatory to acts of terrorism."

Legal teams for both men argued that the trial was unfair to the defence and that the rights of both Duffy and Reynolds had not been respected.

This was based on an assertion that the court could not be sure that the Crown's evidence was fair, accurate and truthful.

As she delivered her ruling today, Judge Smyth said that whilst she accepted the case against both men was circumstances, she had carefully considered other strands. This, she said, included surveillance evidence, cell site analysis regarding mobile phones, number plate recognition and clothing seized.

Also considered by Judge Smyth was evidence from clips which showed the camera was transported on September 8, 2016 and was in Damien Duffy’s kitchen on that date and that Shea Reynolds was also in that property.

The Belfast Recorder said she had also drawn an inference from the refusal of both men to give evidence during the trial.

She said: "Neither defendant has given any evidence to explain or contradict the evidence in this case. If there were an innocent explanation for this combination of circumstances they could and would have been well capable of providing it to the court but they have chosen not to do so.

"I have therefore concluded that each of them has been correctly identified as principle participants in each of the offences and I am satisfied of that beyond a reasonable doubt.

"The fact that there may have been others involved does not effect that conclusion."

Following the guilty verdicts, Defence barrister Stephen Toal KC asked that his client Duffy be granted continuing bail.

Saying it was acknowledged that Duffy faced a significant sentence, Mr Toal said bail would allow his client to "put his affairs in order" before he is jailed.

This request was opposed by a Crown barrister who said that as Duffy had been convicted of "very serious offences", he should be remanded into custody.

Noting Duffy had a prior terrorist conviction, Judge Smyth remanded him into custody. Reynolds solicitor Peter Corrigan said his client, who is currently in HMP Maghaberry, has already "served a substantial period" and should be "looking at release soon, despite being convicted of these offences."

As both Duffy and Reynolds were led from the dock and into custody by prison staff, Judge Smyth said she would review the case on September 9.

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