Northern News

UVF behind latest killing

The new UVF leader in North Down is believed to have ordered the killing of 47-year-old Andrew Cully as he sat in his parked car at Beaufort Walk in the loyalist West Winds Estate in Newtownards on Wednesday night 24 March.

The father of two was gunned down as part of a UVF purge of suspected PSNI informers. Cully was shot up to ten times by two gunmen and died at the scene.

Although Cully was not believed to be a member of any unionist paramilitary group, he was said to have contacts with loyalist organisations. As a member of the Ulster Rifles Association, Cully was said to have the expertise to re-activate decommisoned weapons and is thought to have carried out this type of work for the UVF on weapons brought into the North from Britain.

Although the PSNI said they are keeping an open mind on the killing, a Belfast morning newspaper said Cully had a criminal record and loyalist associations.

It is understood Cully's brother served a prison sentence related to loyalist paramilitary activity in the 1970s.

Unionist paramilitaries have been behind seven other killings in the past year.

Dickson should go sooner rather than later

Responding to reports that the head of the Human Rights Commission, Brice Dickson, is to step down from his position next February, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Human Rights Caitríona Ruane said that Professor Dickson should "go and go now".

"Sinn Féin, in common with many different human rights organisations, has been critical of the performance of Brice Dickson as head of the Human Rights Commission. We have called publicly for him to be removed from this position," she said.

"Brice Dickson's departure would hopefully provide the necessary space in which the range of problems, which currently exist can be adequately addressed. These include powers, resourcing and of course, make up. We would also have very real concerns about the mechanism to select new Commissioners after the current Commission steps down.

Ruane pledged that Sinn Féin will continue to raise concerns about the operation of the Human Rights Commission with the British Government "until the necessary changes are enacted to allow the Commission to fulfill the function demanded of it by the Good Friday Agreement".

UDA target vulnerable families in North Belfast

Two children, aged eight and six, were left hysterical after a unionist paramilitary gang tried to break into their North Belfast home at the weekend.

The two young girls were terrified when the UDA attacked the Catholic family's home in Westland Drive, next to the loyalist Westlands estate in North Belfast on Saturday night 27 March.

The children were at home with a babysitter when the loyalists used a street sign to try and smash their way into the house, breaking windows in the process.

The owner of the house said it was the second time it had been attacked by loyalists in the past year. After the first attack, the windows were replaced with reinforced glass.

The owner was critical of the PSNI's response to the incident, saying it was "pathetic".

Meanwhile, the UDA is being accused of being behind the vicious killing of a family's pet cat in an attempt to intimidate Catholics out of the Cliftonville Road area of North Belfast.

On Monday 22 March the family discovered the body of their cat nailed to the garage door. Its four paws had been cut off and its throat had been cut.

The animal's paws were laid out on the windowsill and loyalist graffiti, 'K Coy' and 'UDA', was sprayed on the garage door.

In the most recent attack, the front window of Ursula Captain's house on Ardoyne Road, where she lives with her two children, was smashed with a brick at around 12.55am on Monday 30 March. The lone assailant made his escape in the direction of the loyalist Glenbryn Estate.

Captain's home was previously targeted eight months ago.

UVF bomb was designed to kill

A UVF car bomb found abandoned outside a bar near Belfast city centre on St Patrick's Day may have been destined for an attack on the Carnival outside the Belfast City hall attended by almost 30,000 people.

The car bomb was discovered shortly before 8pm outside the Menagerie Bar on University Street in the south of the city.

The device, made up of a timing device, two gas cylinders and a detonator, was similar in construction to the UVF car bomb planted at the Auld Lammas Fair in Ballycastle in August 2001.

Owner of the Menagerie bar, Francie Mackin, said the PSNI told him the bomb would have destroyed anyone or anything around it.

Sinn Féin MLA for South Belfast, Alex Maskey, says he will be writing to the British Secretary of State Paul Murphy demanding the full facts relating to the bomb.

Maskey said a similar bomb was left outside the Sinn Féin office on the Ormeau Road in January.

Attacks on Sinn Féin homes will not deter

Lisburn Councillor Sue Ramsey's home was attacked with ball bearings on Tuesday night 23 March. A number of windows were broken during the attack.

It was the latest in a dozen similar attacks at the home of Sinn Féin members in West Belfast. Paul Butler, Gerry Kelly, Fra McCann and Bairbre de Brún have all had their homes attacked.

Ramsey said she was suspicious about the precise information which led to the targeting of her home.

"Given that those carrying out these attacks have accurate information regarding the addresses of republicans, there is a real suspicion that this information is being supplied by the PSNI or one of the British state agencies," she said.

Ramsey added that attacks on Sinn Féin members' homes will not deter them from representing the community.

Adams extends sympathy to John McCall's family

Gerry Adams has added his voice to those offering their condolences to the family of the young Armagh rugby player John McCall, who died while representing Ireland in South Africa over the weekend.

"It is difficult to find words to describe the sense of loss which one feels at death of a young man like John McCall, with such a bright future ahead of him," said the Sinn Féin President. "Like with Cormac McAnallen, who died suddenly earlier this month, my thoughts are with John McCall's family, friends and team mates at this most difficult of times."

St Matthew's Church attacked

East Belfast Sinn Féin representative, Cllr Joe O'Donnell, has appealed for calm in the area after unionists attacked St Matthew's Catholic Church in the Short Strand on Tuesday night. The Church came under paint-bomb attack from a gang emanating from the Lower Newtownards Road. A stained glass window was amongst the items damaged.