PROGRESSIVE UNIONIST Party leader Billy Hutchinson has called for an end to so-called “supergrass” trials, contending that they are directed against the loyalist community and are used to allow people “get away with murder”.
Mr Hutchinson deplored the continuing use of such evidence after he addressed his party’s annual conference at the Ramada Encore hotel on Saturday. The conference, which was also addressed by PSNI chief constable Matt Baggott and attended by about 100 people, adopted a motion condemning the use of supergrass evidence.
Mr Hutchinson reflected the anxiety felt in loyalist areas about an expected big trial in which several leading Ulster Volunteer Force members could face serious charges, including murder, based on evidence of an ex-UVF member who has decided to give evidence against his former associates.
Last February nine men, including senior north Belfast loyalist Mark Haddock, were acquitted of murdering Ulster Defence Association leader Tommy English after the judge dismissed key supergrass evidence.
Mr Hutchinson, speaking on the periphery of Saturday’s PUP conference, said the use of agents or informants was tantamount to entrapment. “How do you take somebody’s word like that; somebody who is trying to save his skin?” he asked.
Mr Hutchinson said supergrasses were being used to “allow people who maybe carried out murders to get off . . . The whole thing needs to be pulled down.”
