Loyalist killer jailed for assault on sisters

One of the North's most ruthless loyalist paramilitary assassins, who was freed from jail under the terms of the Good Friday peace agreement, was sentenced to four months today for beating up two sisters.

Torrens Knight, 40, a feared gunman who was involved in an attack on a pub at Halloween 1993 which left eight customers dead, was sent back to prison five weeks ago after being convicted of the assault.

Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward ruled he was in breach of his release conditions.

And today at Antrim Magistrates’ Court he was jailed for four months after what was described as a nasty and vicious attack on the two women when he confronted them in a bar in Coleraine, Co Derry, in March.

Rosemary Sutherland and her sister Caroline Nicholl were standing at the bar when they were approached by Knight.

The court heard Ms Nicholl was punched in the face, knocked to the ground and then kicked after Knight told her they had “some unfinished business to sort out”.

Ms Sutherland then tried to push Knight away but she too was punched in the face. Knight later claimed that he acted in self-defence.

But District Judge Austin Kennedy refused to believe him and told Knight at the court today that he had acted as a bully and left the two women injured and traumatised.

Knight, a gunman with the loyalist Ulster Freedom Fighters, has been serving life sentences for 12 murders.

Eight of his victims were gunned down when killers opened fire on the Rising Sun bar, in the village of Greysteel, near Londonderry, at Halloween 1993.

One the masked gunmen shouted “trick or treat” before the killers sprayed the main lounge.

That same year Knight was part of a gang which murdered four Catholic builders in the seaside town of Castlerock.

He was sentenced in February 1995, but under the terms of the Good Friday agreement he was released in July 2000.

He stayed out of trouble until May last year when he attacked the two women in the Coleraine bar.

After his conviction at the end of last October, Mr Woodward ruled that his actions represented a breach of his release licence and ordered that he be rearrested and brought back to Maghaberry Prison.

The Life Sentence Review Commissioners will now examine the case to decide if the suspension of the licence was justified and if Knight should serve out the remainder of his murder sentences.

But after the judge ruled he should serve four months in prison for the two assaults and disorderly behaviour, Knight’s lawyer Francis Rafferty confirmed that his client would be appealing against the convictions and he made an immediate application for bail.