Effort underway to freeze top loyalist's assets

The North’s Assets Recovery Agency is seeking a High Court order freezing the assets of leading loyalist Jim Gray.

Mr Gray, a former UDA brigadier in East Belfast, was expelled from the position earlier this month amid reports that his business affairs were the subject of a PSNI investigation.

The 47-year-old was subsequently arrested in Co Down and was charged over the weekend with possessing and hiding criminal property.

The ARA, the North’s equivalent of the Criminal Assets Bureau, is now seeking to freeze his assets while it continues to investigate his affairs.

The investigation is believed to centre on the proceeds from the sale of two pubs in which Mr Gray had a financial interest.