A loyalist “supergrass” who admitted the murders of five people among hundreds of offences has had a 35-year jail term reduced to more than six years for helping the police.<\/p>\n
Gary Haggarty, 45, was a former leader of an Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) unit in north Belfast.<\/p>\n
Haggarty was a paid police informer for 11 years.<\/p>\n
A judge said the offences were “ones of exceptional gravity” but that he had provided significant information<\/p>\n
After turning state witness in 2009, Haggarty provided information on 55 loyalist murders and 20 attempted murders in 1,015 police interviews.<\/p>\n
However, only one man is to be prosecuted, for two murders, on the back of the evidence.<\/p>\n
The vast majority of people named by Haggarty in his police interviews will not face prosecution amid state concerns about a lack of supporting evidence.<\/p>\n
The judgement from Belfast Crown Court indicated that the 35-year jail term was reduced by 75% for the assistance given to prosecutors and then a further 25% for Haggarty’s plea of guilty.<\/p>\n
The judge said that the offences admitted by Haggarty had been involved in a “terrorist campaign over a 16-year period”.<\/p>\n
He also noted that Haggarty’s motivation for co-operating with prosecutors was “self-interest and pragmatism” rather than because he “wishes to atone for his crimes”.<\/p>\n
However, his judgement added that Haggarty’s assistance “went beyond what might be described as ‘normal’ and, as a result of that assistance, the defendant has placed himself at considerable personal risk”.<\/p>\n
The judge said that Haggarty had provided “a significant amount of information in relation to very serious criminal activity”.<\/p>\n
Haggarty admitted five murders.<\/p>\n
The victims were:<\/p>\n
The 202 crimes Haggarty was sentenced for were committed between 1991 and 2007.<\/p>\n
He also admitted five attempted murders, including against police officers; 23 counts of conspiracy to murder and directing terrorism.<\/p>\n
The judge also took into consideration a further 301 lesser offences in his judgement.<\/p>\n
During the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the Ulster Volunteer Force murdered more than 500 people.<\/p>\n
The loyalist paramilitary group’s campaign also claimed the lives of 33 people in bomb attacks in Dublin and Monaghan in 1974.<\/p>\n
The organisation’s name dates back to the Protestant force formed to oppose Home Rule in 1912.<\/p>\n
The name was revived in 1966 as loyalists came together to oppose liberal unionism and what it saw as a rise in Irish nationalism, centred on the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising.<\/p>\n
The UVF’s political wing, the Progressive Unionist Party, played a prominent role in the peace process and supported the 1998 Belfast Agreement.<\/p>\n
Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"