Courts to review lenient sentences for loyalist gunmen

A court in the North is to review the case of three loyalists who were given suspended sentences for threatening a police officer with a deactivated gun.

The move follows a ruling by the British Attorney General that the sentence was too lenient.

The three men had set up a loyalist roadblock in Portglenone, Co Antrim, last July 12, and were pointing a deactivated gun at motorists, saying they were protecting an Orange march in the village.

They eventually ran off when one motorist they targeted identified himself a PSNI officer.

Last October, a judge ruled that the three should only receive suspended sentences, prompting outrage from the SDLP, which said people who use weapons to threaten the public should be treated more severely.