Neighbours of a former Progressive Unionist Party representative last night said that they believed a gun attack on his home was carried out by the UVF, writes Suzanne Breen. Mr Mark Thompson resigned from the party due to a disagreement over the treatment of Billy Wright, the dissident Portadown loyalist.Several shots were fired through a bedroom window of Mr Thompson's home in Garden Village, Ballycraigy, Co Antrim, early yesterday. When his wife, Gillian, looked out, another blast hit the window in front of her. The couple escaped injury. No group has admitted responsibility for the attack, but local people believed that the UVF was involved.
Mr Thompson has previously stood as an election candidate for the PUP, the UVF's political wing. He left the PUP because of Billy Wright's treatment and his own ill-health. Wright was expelled from the UVF last year over his opposition to the peace process and the loyalist ceasefire.
Mr David Ervine, of the PUP, denied that the UVF was responsible for the attack on Mr Thompson's home.
The Antrim incident follows a gun attack last week on the home of Pastor Kenny McClinton, who acts as a mediator for loyalist prisoners. Several shots were fired through the window of his home near the Shankill Road in Belfast. He also escaped injury.