Stobie killed for ‘‘crimes against the loyalist community’’

Former associates of intelligence agent William Stobie today said they gunned him down in Belfast.

The Red Hand Defenders, a cover name used by the Ulster Defence Association, said they killed him because of ‘‘crimes against the loyalist community’’.

The admission to a Belfast newsroom confirmed the security forces’ belief that the UDA assassinated the 51-year-old former quartermaster who was acquitted last month of plotting the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane in 1989.

Stobie was shot dead as he prepared to drive his partner to work.

He was hit a number of times after a car pulled up outside his flat in Forthriver Road.

The victim was warned his life was in danger by Special Branch last week and even though the UDA assured him he had nothing to fear, it was their gunmen who fired the fatal shots.

Associates believe he was killed after disclosing he was a police informer and for supporting calls for a judicial inquiry into the murder of Mr Finucane.