Republican News · Thursday 26 June 2003

Top UDA men charged with feud killing

Belfast UDA commanders Ahab Shoukri and William 'Mo' Courtney have been remanded in custody after being charged with the killing of Johnny Adair ally Alan McCullough, whose body was found in a shallow grave at Mallusk two weeks ago.

Shoukri, from Alliance Road in North Belfast, who appeared at Belfast Magistrates Court on Thursday 12 June, was also charged with membership of the banned Ulster Freedom Fighters. He was remanded in custody to Maghaberry Prison for a week.

About 20 of Shoukri's associates, including his brother Andre, who is on High Court bail on a firearms charge, were in court for the hearing.

Courtney, from Fernhill Heights in the Shankill, appeared in court on Saturday 14 June, charged with killing McCullough and membership of the UFF. The leading unionist paramilitary was arrested on Thursday in Carrickfergus.

It has since been reported that tensions within Maghaberry jail are mounting after Shoukri and Courtney were remanded there. The jail also houses onetime loyalist supremo Johnny Adair, who has sworn revenge on McCullough's killers.

McCullough fled Belfast in February after the remnants of the notorious C company of the UDA were forced out of the Lower Shankill area following the killing of East Antrim UDA chief John 'Grugg' Gregg. McCullough returned to his Denmark Street home last month after being given assurances his life was not in danger from the UDA. On the night he disappeared, he was last seen in the company of two senior UDA men.

His body was found on Friday 6 June in a shallow grave at Mallusk on the outskirts of North Belfast. The UFF later admitted the killing, claiming McCullough had been involved in the killing of Adair's bitter rival, Gregg.

Judges operate sectarian agenda

Sinn Féin has accused the Six-County judiciary of sectarianism after a Royal Irish Regiment soldier facing firearms charges was freed on bail at Belfast's High Court on Thursday 12 June.

29-year-old Alister William Andrew Sproule, whose address was given as St Lucia Army Barracks, Omagh, was charged with stealing a Ruger pistol and 14 rounds of ammunition on 13 May. He is also charged with being in possession of the pistol and ammunition between 13 May and 10 June in suspicious circumstances. He faces a third charge of possessing six rounds of 9mm ammunition, also in suspicious circumstances, on 23 May.

Sproule was released on his own bail of £500 with a surety of £1,000.

Sinn Féin MP Pat Doherty contrasted the treatment of the member of the British armed forces to that of Andersonstown nationalist Bill Tierney, who was refused bail on charges of possession of information, and North Belfast nationalist John O'Hagan, who has been held in custody for well over a year with no prospect of a trial on similar charges. O'Hagan has been refused bail on at least two occasions.