Police swoop on loyalist estate following crucifixion

Police have swooped on a loyalist estate on the outskirts of Belfast after a man was nailed to a fence in what looked like a crucifixion.

Police swooped on a loyalist estate on the outskirts of Belfast after a young Catholic man was “crucified” on a stile.

The operation took place in the Seymour Hill estate where Harry McCartan, from the nearby nationalist Poleglass Estate, was savagely beaten before being nailed to the stile early on Saturday morning.

A police spokesman said clothing, bats, knives and a computer were seized during the raid on five houses and a derelict flat. Officers were continuing to examine the flat last night.

Yesterday, Mr McCartan, 23, speaking from his hospital bed, branded his attackers cowards.

“Nobody should be treated like this,” he said.

“They are just cowards. I was on my own and it took more than four people to do this.

“They are lower than animals.”

Sources from the Ulster Defence Association had said loyalists were behind the assault but denied that the leadership had sanctioned it.

Police believe it was connected to an increase in car crime in the area but Mr McCartan’s family claimed it was purely because he was a Catholic.

His brother Neil, 31, said his brother had documentation with his name and address in his car, which had been found around 100 metres from where he had been left.

“They knew that he was from Poleglass and they said, ’We have got a Catholic here’. I think he was left there to die,” he said.

Harry McCartan was released from prison last month after serving a 15-month sentence for car theft.

He revealed that he had been the victim of a republican punishment attack for “anti-social behaviour” a couple of years ago when both his ankles were broken.

But he denied that he had been out stealing cars when this weekend’s attack happened.

“They should be put down. They shouldn’t deserve to get away with this, especially to another human being.

“I don’t know what I did wrong but what they did wasn’t right.

“If I was going out looking for a car I wouldn’t bring my own car with me,” he added.