£5m cost of UDA feud revealed as third man charged with murder

MORE than £5m has been spent policing a paramilitary feud that has claimed two lives, a court has heard.

As a third man was remanded in custody yesterday charged with the murder of high-profile loyalist George Gilmore, detectives said the dispute had now spread beyond Carrickfergus.

Robert Darren McMaw appeared before Belfast Magistrates Court over his alleged role in the killing.

The 32-year-old, of Starbog Road in Kilwaughter, near Larne, also faces further counts of attempting to murder two of Gilmore’s friends and possessing a self-loading pistol and seven rounds of ammunition in connection with the same attack. His 29-year-

Shot: George Gilmore

old brother Samuel David McMaw, of the same address, and Brian McLean (35), from The Birches in Carrickfergus, have already been charged with the same offences.

Gilmore (44) died after being hit by bullets fired at his car on the Woodburn housing estate in March this year.

He had been lured into a trap by his alleged murderers who goaded him into a chase, detectives claim.

The attack was part of a year-long dispute between Gilmore’s grouping and the UDA’s south east Antrim unit.

Darren McMaw spoke only to confirm he understood the charges against him.

Opposing his application for bail, a detective inspector told the court the feud in Carrickfergus has reached other parts of Greater Belfast.

Referring to the attacks on both Gilmore and the fatal shooting of Colin Horner at a supermarket car park in Bangor in May, he said: “It has resulted now in the death of two men and multiple attacks on other individuals and property.

“The cost to the PSNI is in excess of £5m to police this.”

At a previous hearing prosecutors claimed Samuel David McMaw was seen to crouch down in an alleyway, attempt to pull a balaclava over his face and brandish a gun. As Gilmore tried to speed off up to eight shots were fired from a 9mm pistol. One bullet went through the windscreen, striking the loyalist in the back of the head.

In court yesterday the detective claimed there would be a risk of witness intimidation if Darren McMaw was released from custody.

Richard McConkey, defending, argued that Darren McMaw was first arrested and questioned back in April, making no attempt to interfere with the investigation following his initial release.

But despite stressing his client could live at an address outside the town, bail was denied. Deputy District Judge Joe Rice remanded McMaw in custody to appear again by video-link in four weeks time.