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Loyalist paramilitary Michael Stone came within inches of assassinating former London mayor, Ken Livingstone, a Belfast court heard today.

Mr Stone, who is on trial for the attempted murders of Sinn Féin leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness in 2006, claimed one of his biggest regrets was not shooting dead the Labour MP in the early 1980s.

He made the comments in a TV interview he gave weeks before he burst into parliament buildings in Belfast allegedly armed with explosives and a replica handgun.

Mr Stone denies trying to kill the Sinn Féin leaders and 11 other charges related to the incident in November 2006, claiming instead it was an act of “performance art”.

In the TV interview, which was played during his trial in Belfast Crown Court today, Mr Stone claimed he had made two dry runs leading up to his planned murder bid on Mr Livingstone.

“I came within inches of taking his life in 1983,” he told the ITV reporter. 

He  said he was going to shoot Mr Livingstone at close range as he entered Westminster Tube station on his way home from work.

“He was to be assassinated with a head shot and two body shots. I was to be dressed as a jogger and make off towards the Embankment, throw my weapons in the Thames and make good my get-away.”

In the interview, Mr Stone also claimed he regretted not killing Mr Adams and Mr McGuinness when he killeed three other people when he stormed Milltown cemetery in 1988.

However, he claimed he was not being truthful in the interview and it was all part of an act of “performance art”, with the incident at Stormont the final part of a “parody” of his former life as a terrorist.

When asked by the prosecution barrister whether he was being truthful about his TV claims about Ken Livingstone, Mr Stone refused to answer.

PA