UVF boss ‘smirked as he ordered murder’

LOYALIST leader Mark Haddock smirked as he dispatched a hit team to gun down a paramilitary rival, a member of the murder plot has told a court.

Robert Stewart, who has turned state evidence against the alleged Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) commander and 13 other men facing paramilitary-linked charges, told Belfast Crown Court Haddock directed the plan to kill Ulster Defence Association (UDA) boss Tommy English 11 years ago. “Haddock, he was running the whole thing,” Stewart said.

Mr English, aged 40, was gunned down in his house in front of his wife and three children just after 6pm on Halloween night in 2000 during a bloody feud between the UDA and UVF.