THE BIGGEST trial for decades in Northern Ireland begins tomorrow as 14 alleged members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)will be in the dock accused of the murder of a rival loyalist chief, alongside dozens of other charges.
The 14 alleged members of a north Belfast branch of the organisation, including leading loyalist and former Special Branch informer Mark Haddock (42), will face the non-jury Diplock court,
They will appear at Laganside court in Belfast on the charge of murdering rival UDA chief Tommy English in 2000, as well as 40 other counts including membership of a proscribed organisation, wounding with intent and possession of an offensive weapon. Nine are charged with the murder.
The majority of charges stem from evidence provided by “supergrasses” David and Robert Stewart. The brothers, who have confessed to being UVF members, are serving three-year sentences for their part in aiding and abetting the killing of Mr English, who was gunned down at his home in Antrim as part of a feud between the two loyalist groups in October 2000.
They agreed to turn Queen’s evidence and implicate their former colleagues in return for reduced jail sentences.
Haddock, from the Mount Vernon estate in north Belfast, is believed to have been the UVF’s north Belfast commander until 2005, when he was arrested and charged with the attempted murder of a nightclub doorman in Co Antrim.
He was later cleared of that charge but subsequently received a prison sentence of 10 years for grievous bodily harm with intent against the same man.