Loyalist cleared of UDA murder

Feb 22 2012

Loyalist leader Mark Haddock has been cleared of the murder of paramilitary rival Tommy English 12 years ago.

Ulster Defence Association (UDA) chief English, 40, was gunned down in his house in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, in front of his wife and three young children on Halloween night in 2000 during a bloody feud between the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and the UDA.

Sitting for 21 weeks, the trial at Belfast Crown Court was one of the longest in Northern Ireland's legal history and is set to be one of the most expensive.

The prosecution case against 13 men was based on the testimony of two brothers and self-confessed UVF members who turned state's evidence in return for significantly reduced jail terms.

Window cleaners Robert and Ian Stewart alleged that nine of the defendants were involved in the murder.

Four others stood accused of lesser offences including assisting offenders, perverting the course of justice, and meting out paramilitary beatings.

A fourteenth man walked free from court last month after judge Mr Justice John Gillen, who sat without a jury, ruled that he had no case to answer.

Mr Justice Gillen delivered a withering assessment of the evidence provided by the two brothers, saying it was "infected with lies".

The judge said he was not convinced that men he described as "ruthless criminals and unflinching terrorists" had turned over a new leaf and decided to tell the truth. "These were the same men wearing new suits," he said.

The so-called "supergrass" trial has been controversial, with supporters of the accused likening the case to high-profile trials in the 1980s which saw both loyalist and republican paramilitaries jailed on the evidence of former colleagues who turned state's evidence.