Kieran McLaughlin booted off the dissident wings
THE man found not guilty last week of murdering Barry McCrory has been kicked off the dissident wings in Maghaberry prison – by jailhouse commander Colin Duffy.
Kieran McLaughlin was recently given his marching orders from the Roe House landings for interfering with ‘New IRA’ chief Duffy’s newspapers.
Said a prison source: “McLaughlin was seen as a bit of a hero on the dissident wings because of his past.
“But he crossed the line with Duffy.
“Duffy was getting newspapers in the jail to read but McLaughlin decided to cut articles out of the papers relating to his court trial.
“He was told to stop but he just carried on doing it. Then Duffy finally sent the word down that McLaughlin was no longer welcome in Roe House and he had to go. If he didn’t, he would face the consequences.’’
Fearing possible internal trouble, prison chiefs decided to remove McLaughlin from Roe House for his own safety and put him in another remand block.
Whenever he is sentenced in May, McLaughlin will then be moved to another part of the jail for sentenced inmates.
He was found guilty on Friday of possessing a loaded stolen shotgun and a Mauser pistol and ammunition.
McLaughlin is now facing a sentence of at least 20 years behind bars.
Lurgan dissident Duffy, 47, is currently on remanded charged with conspiracy to murder and IRA membership.
It follows a gun attack on a convoy of police vehicles travelling up the Crumlin Road towards Ardoyne on December 5, 2013, not far from the loyalist Woodvale protest camp.
Also charged along with him with IRA membership were Alex McCrory 53), from Sliabh Dubh View in west Belfast and Harry Fitzsimons, (46).
All three were further charged with possessing firearms and explosives with intent to endanger life or cause serious damage to property.
Sunday Life later revealed that all three were arrested following a massive hi-tech covert surveillance operation mounted by teams from the PSNI’s ‘C3’ Intelligence Branch and the Terrorist Investigation Unit.
MI5 agents provided the listening devices.
We revealed that it was all part of a ‘Get Duffy’ order to bring him to book for alleged terrorist offences
A source told us at the time: “Up to a dozen high-powered listening devices were secretly planted overnight in a park he used for Army Council meetings.
“They were strategically placed at various points around the park so they could listen in on his conversation.
“Everything he talked about was picked up on the microphones, recorded and transcribed. When the details were put him after his arrest, he went the colour of sheet white.’’
(ENDS)
Tags: