A ring of security will be thrown around the court complex as Terry Malachy Davison (51) stands trial for the murder of dad-of-two McCartney.

The 33-year-old was stabbed to death in Cromac Street close to Magennis's Bar near the Markets area of Belfast in the early hours of January 31, 2005, after trying to intervene in a pub row.

A gang of around a dozen men are believed to have kicked, punched and stabbed McCartney, leaving him and another man for dead.

After the brutal murder of their brother, and frustrated at the lack of co-operation with the police investigation, the McCartney sisters, along with Robert's fiancee Bridgeen Hagens, launched a campaign for justice that saw them walk corridors of power in Washington and Brussels.

When Davison stands in the dock he'll be joined by two other men, Jim McCormick (39) and Joseph Gerard Emmanuel Fitzpatrick (47) — both charged with affray in relation to the same incident.

Fitzpatrick is also accused of assaulting a second man.

As the McCartney sisters come face-to-face with their brother's alleged killer in Laganside courtroom 12, another high profile case will be starting just yards away. For in the next court Mr Justice Sir Donnell Deeny will be hearing evidence in the trial of Michael Stone.

Stone (52) faces a total of 14 charges, including attempting to murder Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness during his "attack" on Stormont on the opening of the Assembly on November 24, 2006.

Stone was tackled by Stormont security guards as he tried to force his way through the revolving doors with a replica gun and an alleged bag of explosives, in full glare of the television cameras.

During his case — due to last five weeks — Stone is expected to rely on experts in the fields of forensics, ballistics, engineering and the arts to support his claim that the incident was a work of performance art.

Ironically, the judge is a former chairman of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.