Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
BLOODY COST OF FEUD AS MAN CHARGED
Loyalist fallout has racked up £5m policing bill
A LOYALIST paramilitary feud that claimed the lives of two men this year has cost more than £5million to police, a court heard yesterday.
The bill for policing the dispute between South East Antrim UDA factions was revealed as a 32-yearold man was remanded in custody charged with murdering one of the victims – George Gilmore.
Robert Mcmaw appeared in the dock of Belfast Magistrates Court amid a tight security presence.
His brother Samuel Mcmaw has already been charged with the same crime.
Mr Gilmore, 44, was shot in the neck as he sat in his car in the Pinewood Avenue area of Carrickfergus, Co Antrim. He died the following day in hospital.
A PSNI detective told district judge Joe Rice: “This is a recent but ongoing loyalist feud involving various factions of the South East Antrim UDA in the Carrickfergus and greater Belfast areas. It has cost in excess of £5million to police this.”
The accused, from Starbog Road in Kilwaughter on the outskirts of Larne, Co Antrim, is charged with the murder of Mr Gilmore and the attempted murder of two other men – Steven Boyd and Kelvin Graham – on the same day, March 13. He faces a further count of possessing a firearm and ammunition – namely a self-loading handgun and seven 9mm bullets – with intent to endanger life.
District judge Rice refused bail, saying: “Police inquiries are ongoing and there is a risk of further offending and witness intimidation.
“The court does not feel you are a suitable candidate.”
Father-of-one Mcmaw, dressed in a grey jumper, spoke only once during the short hearing to confirm he understood the charges.
He waved at supporters in the public gallery before being led away.
Two men have already been charged with Mr Gilmore’s murder – Mcmaw’s brother Samuel, 29, also of Starbog Road, and 35-year-old Brian Roy Mcclean, of the Birches in Carrickfergus.
Two months after his death, Mr Gilmore’s friend and fellow loyalist Colin Horner, 35, was shot dead in a car park in Bangor, Co Down, a crime also linked to the UDA feud.