Ex-RUC officer defects from SDLP to Sinn Féin

A FORMER police officer in the North who served with three colleagues shot dead by the IRA has become the first SDLP councillor to join Sinn Féin since the Assembly elections, it emerged yesterday.

Billy Leonard, 49, a councillor from Portstewart, Co Derry, stunned colleagues in the SDLP by switching to the republican movement. “I believe Sinn Féin has the vision, strategy and commitment to cater for my political aspirations.”

Mr Leonard, a Protestant, and former lay preacher once served as an officer in the Royal Ulster Constabulary’s reserve force in Lurgan, Co Armagh. He had become disillusioned with the SDLP, particularly after his failure to be chosen to stand in elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly in November, said friends.