Teens face loyalist terror beatings in Derry

Teenagers in Derry who anger loyalist paramilitaries are being told to report for vicious punishment beatings, police claimed today.

Officers are stepping up patrols in the city after a new spate of attacks on youths who fall foul of the terror bosses.

Superintendent Johnny McCarroll said the decision came after the latest victims, aged 19 and 20, were taken to hospital with serious injuries.

He said: “At this moment in time no complaint has been made by them, but I would ask these people to come and make complaints to us.

“We need to put these people behind bars. This is pure thuggery, it’s pure criminality and it’s jungle tactics that are being used.

“This is horrendous.”

Loyalist representatives in the city denied the claims.

Mark Robinson, a spokesman for the Ulster Volunteer Force-linked Progressive Unionist Party, said: “If a paramilitary group told you to turn up for a beating you would get as far away as possible.

“This is absolutely not true and police, or some cowboys among the Protestant community, are doing this for their own gain.”