A man has been granted bail in the north following a "brutal, sectarian''murder which left a victim in a coma for years.

The 38-year-old Paul McCauley spent almost a decade in care after he was attacked by loyalists at a barbecue in the Waterside area of Derry in July 2006.

He died in a home last month.

24-year-old Piper John McClements, from the Fountain Estate area of the city, was granted bail at Derry Magistrates' Court today.

District judge John Meehan said: "This is a matter of acute public concern, one of the most brutal, sectarian attacks in a long catalogue.''