McCANN AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT 26 place where they were shot. Also it was questioned whether the soldiers could reasonably have expected that the applicants could have concealed the devices on their persons without it being apparent and whether in fact the device could have been detonated by pressing only one button. 113. Mr Feraday gave evidence for the Crown. He was a forensic scientist employed at Explosives Forensic Laboratory at Royal Armament Research and Development Establishment, with thirty-three years experience of explosives. He produced an ICOM IC2 transmitter, as an example of a device used in Northern Ireland, which was the size of a standard commercial walkie-talkie. It was also produced in evidence by the Government to both the Commission and Court in the Strasbourg proceedings (see paragraph 130 below). While referring to the factors which could affect the range (for example, terrain, weather conditions) Mr Feraday stated that the equipment could, in optimum conditions, operate up to a thirty-mile range. In his opinion, the aerial on the suspect car could have received a signal though its efficiency would have been fairly poor as it was not the right length for the frequency. He considered that one would have to assume that from the distance of about a mile a bomb could be detonated by remote control using that aerial. 114. The applicants called Dr Scott, who held a masters degree and doctorate in engineering and was a licensed radio operator. He had been involved in two IRA trials in England. He had conducted tests with similar receivers along the route taken by the three suspects. He referred to the fact that there was rising ground between the sites of the shootings and the assembly area as well as a thick wall and a considerable number of buildings. The IRA used encoders and decoders on their devices to prevent spurious signals detonating their bombs: this required that a good clean signal be received. Having regard to the facts that the aerial, which "was a joke" from the point of view of effectiveness, the wrong length for the expected frequency and pointing along the roof rather than standing vertically, he stated that in his professional opinion the purported receiver could not have been detonated by a transmitter in the circumstances of the case. He also stated that the bomb could have been neutralised by removing the car aerial and that such a manoeuvre would not have destabilised the explosive device. 115. Dr Scott also explained how the transmitter would operate. Assuming the dial setting the frequency was already set, it would be necessary to activate the on/off power switch, followed by the on/off switch on the encoder and then a third button would have to be pressed in order to transmit. While it would be possible to set the device so that it would be necessary to press one button (the transmit button) in order to detonate a bomb, this would require leaving the power switches on for both the transmitter and the encoder with the risk that the batteries would run down. There would also be the risk that the device might be set off accidentally by