Man shot dead as loyalist feud escalates

Security was tight across Belfast tonight after the murder of a man was linked to a bitter power struggle between rival loyalist paramilitaries.

Jonathan Stewart, 22, was shot twice as he stood in the kitchen of a house in north Belfast this morning.

A hooded gunman forced his way into the house in Manor Street at around 7.30am and opened fire. Another man in the room was not injured.

Mr Stewart’s family said the victim was shot simply because he was a nephew of a prominent loyalist who was forced to leave west Belfast’s Lower Shankill estate by the Ulster Defence Association’s renegade C Company.

His aunt, Anne Darragh, said: “He was not involved in anything, he didn’t do anything wrong. He was an innocent bystander.

“He was just an easy target for them to get at and that was it. They don’t care who they get.”

A source close to the UDA claimed the latest attack marked a worrying escalation in the loyalist feud.

“It was totally unexpected and there is no doubt C Company in the Lower Shankill were behind it,” he said.

“Up to this point we have had silly mind games and scare tactics but it was only a matter of time before someone got killed and that has happened today.

“The Lower Shankill has been behind attacks all over the place and this is just the latest. They cannot expect to act with impunity.”

It is understood the victim, who lived nearby, had attended a party at the premises last night.

Detective Superintendent Roy Suitters said police would be investigating links to the loyalist feud.

He described the murder as an “execution which had brought more grief to yet another family in the area”.

“This has got to stop,” he added.

Mr Suitters said detectives wished to trace a silver car which was seen in the area this morning with four people inside.