Supergrass judgement reserved

Published Tuesday, 31 January 2012
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Judgement has been reserved in the supergrass trial of alleged UVF leader Mark Haddock and 11 other defendents, 21 weeks since the case began.

Supergrass judgement reserved
A judge has reserved judgement at Belfast Crown Court's supergrass trial. (© UTV)

The Diplock court has sat at Belfast Crown Court for a total of 71 days and over 200 exhibits shown since it began on 6 September.

Final submissions lasted less than an hour as lawyers for both prosecution and defence relied on skeleton arguments lodged with judge Mr Justice Gillen.

The 35 charges faced by the 13 defendants are exclusively based on the evidence of supergrass brothers David and Ian Stewart who confessed to a litany of UVF crimes and received massively reduced jail terms in exchange for their evidence.

The brothers, who between them spent almost the entirety of the trial in the witness box, claim nine defendants were involved in the murder of rival UDA chief Tommy English who was gunned down in front of his wife and kids in his Ballyduff home at Hallowe'en in 2000.

They allege the other four were involved in assisting offenders, perverting justice and handing out beatings.

On Tuesday a lawyer for one of the men labelled the Stewart brothers as "utterly unreliable", motivated not by remorse as they claimed but by "deceit and self-interest" and whose lives were filled with "gratuitous violence".

He described the pair as "proven liars" in many instances, not least when they claimed Bond had driven them to and from numerous UVF meetings during 1999 and 2000 despite jail records proving that he was in custody at the time.

When the trial began Robert 'Lanky' Stewart was first to take the witness box, constantly flanked by armed police, a position he would remain in for seven weeks until his brother Ian Stewart took the stand.

In return for their evidence, the brothers were given massively reduced life sentences of three years after they pleaded to involvement in the murder of Tommy English and a litany of other crimes committed during their 14 year UVF careers.

They claimed that alleged special branch informer Haddock was commander of Mount Vernon UVF, Moore and Millar were second in command at different times and that Wood was in charge of New Mossley UVF.

With their testimonies interrupted with illness and breaks, the Stewart brothers claimed they were in a flat in New Mossley when a plan was hatched to murder a "hair bear", euphemism for a UDA member.

They claimed as the nine alleged UVF terrorists munched on crisps and coke, a plan was made to hijack a taxi which would take four gunmen to English's home in Ballyduff.

Robert Stewart said he drove Haddock and Moore on a "reccy" of English's house and alleged that as Haddock left the flat with the weapons handed out and the plan formed, he told them: "Try not to shoot the kids but make sure you get the f*****", adding that the alleged murder team were "laughing" while Bond told them "good luck lads".

Under cross examination from the many lawyers involved in the case, the brothers denied they had received the "deal of the century" but had only wanted to "do the right thing" when they handed themselves into cops in 2009, claiming they "could not live" with the guilt of the murder any longer.

Each of the men said in terms that they were telling the truth but any inconsistencies in their accounts were down to drugs, drink and trying to remember the catalogue of crimes committed many years beforehand.

Tommy English's widow Doreen English also gave evidence of how her husband had been letting off fireworks with his kids in the front garden and had come inside for a cup of tea to get warmed up when the gunmen burst into their kitchen.

Although she tried to stop the gang from forcing their way into her Ballyfore Gardens home, her husband was gunned down in the front hallway in front of Mrs English and the couples' children.

Mr Justice Gillen and many of the barristers involved in the trial also visited the scene of the shooting and the loyalist strongholds of New Mossley and Carnmoney.

At the end of the Crown case earlier this month, barristers filed direction applications for the case to be thrown out of court, urging the judge to acquit the defendants of all charges as the Stewart brothers were "totally and completely unworthy of belief".

They argued that based on the inconsistencies of the brothers' evidence the judge could never be convinced or satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of the guilt of the men.

Delivering his judgement a week later, Mr Justice Gillen acquitted the men of two charges of wounding with intent in relation to an attack on Keith Caskey in January 1996 and an attack on Alan Webster in December 1996.

On Tuesday, the judge said he was "extremely grateful" to all counsel for their helpful submissions throughout the trial.

Promising to deliver his final judgement "as soon as I can," Mr Justice Gillen said he had to read through "a great deal of evidence" and that everyone would get "proper notice" when it would be handed down.

© UTV News
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