‘We are going to have to get a saw to cut him up, look at the size of him’

A SECTARIAN thug who wanted to kill and cut up his battered Catholic victim was jailed for 16 years yesterday.

Neil White, 30, was part of a gang who strangled and repeatedly stabbed Michael Reid during an attack in Ballymena, Co Antrim.

At one stage the 31-year-old went limp and pretended to be dead in a bid to survive the relentless assault.

The victim, who has since gone into hiding, was visiting a friend in Ballymena’s staunchly Protestant Harryville district when White and two other men came to the house two years ago.

Mr Reid, an imposing 6ft 4in tall, was beaten with a blunt object, stabbed and throttled with cable after they discovered his religion.

Sentencing White at Belfast Crown Court yesterday, Mr Justice Coghlin told him: “Ultimately the victim went to ground and pretended he was dead.

“You were assigned to guard the victim while others left the premises with the chilling words: ‘We are going to have to get a saw to cut him up, look at the size of him’.”

White, of Wakehurst Road, Ballymena, pleaded guilty last week to charges of attempted murder.

Two other men have gone on the run since his arrest.

All three had attacked Mr Reid after discovering he was a Catholic because of where he lived in the town.

While the other two went to get another weapon the victim made a dash for the door but was caught and stabbed again by White.

After a struggle he managed to escape, running about 150 yards before collapsing on the road where a police patrol found him.

Doctors said he was lucky to be alive because he had lost so much blood. The knife had missed his vital organs.

Since the attack on October 11, 2003, Mr Reid has left the town and claimed it was unsafe for Catholics to walk in certain areas.

White showed no emotion in the dock as the judge passed sentence.

Mr Justice Coghlin said the starting point for attempted murder with a sectarian motive would normally be at least 20 years.

But the judge recognised his plea, along with his heavy drinking on the night and the fact that a close relative with a greater intellect had influenced his actions.