Suspended sentence for possessing bullets

Despite pleading guilty to possessing ammunition in suspicious circumstances, a former Chairperson of the Carrickfergus Police Liaison Committee and member of the Ulster Political Research Group has walked free from a Belfast court.

William Cameron — who also stood as an independent unionist candidate during the last election — received a suspended sentence from the court for having nearly a dozen 9mm bullets in his possession.

The bullets were discovered when the PSNI conducted a search of Cameron's home in January. Officers discovered one of the rounds in a briefcase alongside an empty gun holster and upon examining the briefcase further, found another ten live bullets.

Defence QC Charles Adair claimed Cameron found the bullets in a skip four years earlier and had kept them "out of stupidity and naïvety".

Judge Sheil told Cameron he would normally go straight to jail "given the history of the troubles" but has added that because of the "exceptional circumstances" surrounding Cameron's case, he would suspend the two-year jail term for a year.

Details of the "exceptional circumstances" the judge referred to have not been forthcoming.