Published Friday, 05 June 2009
Manmohan 'Johnny' Sandhu also pleaded guilty to three counts of perverting the course of justice and another of conspiring to pervert the course of justice at Belfast Crown Court on Friday.
The charges were brought after police bugged his conversations with a suspected terrorist client inside Antrim police station.
The Indian born lawyer, who lives in Colby Street, Derry, originally denied the charges but changed his plea last week.
The 44-year-old stood with his head bowed in the dock when the Judge Mr Justice Deeny told him:
"It was a wicked thing to incite men of violence to murder an innocent man.
"This was all the more so when you were a solicitor and he was already a victim and a potential witness in a forthcoming trial.
"Such conduct must be deserving of a severe sentence."
'Breach of trust'
The judge continued: "There was a very grave breach of trust by the accused as a solicitor to the Supreme Court of Northern Ireland given privileged access to his clients in a police station."
He added: "That abusive trust took place not on a single occasion but on a number of occasions over a period of months in 2005."
The Law Society swiftly suspended Sandhu after he pleaded guilty.
It said Sandhu's actions were a betrayal of his profession.
Society president Barry Finlay said: "The profession regards Mr Manmohan Sandhu's behaviour as totally deplorable."
"The sentence is entirely appropriate and reflects the gravity of his offences."
The judge said they would now have to consider his future membership of the profession in accordance with laid-down procedures.
But he said: "It seems to me quite unrealistic to expect that a man who has offended in this way could possibly be allowed to practice as a solicitor again."
The charges against Sandhu arose from the attempted murder of a taxi driver and the murders of two men during a power struggle between the UVF and LVF in 2005.
Sandhu was arrested in January 2006 on the basis of his taped conversations with loyalist paramilitary clients at the serious crime suite in Antrim police station during 2005 and 2006.
He denied the charges and fought to prevent the evidence being used against him until his trial last week when, on day three of what was expected to be a six-week trial, he pleaded guilty.