Police and vulnerable working-class loyalist communities are bracing themselves for potentially another murderous loyalist paramilitary feud after a 34-year-old man was shot dead in east Belfast yesterday morning.
Loyalist sources blamed the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) for the murder of Brian Stewart who was gunned down as he sat in his car in Castlereagh industrial estate. Loyalist figures confirmed that Mr Stewart was a member of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), sparking fears of yet another UVF-LVF feud.
At least two gunmen ambushed Mr Stewart's car at Alanbrooke Road, off Montgomery Road, as he drove to the plumbing firm where he worked. They fired about five shots at him at close range. He died at the scene.
Sources close to the LVF last night said that Mr Stewart was not a high-ranking member of the LVF although other loyalist sources described him as an "LVF commander". The LVF sources said he had played a constructive role in working with community groups, churches and other organisations. "This is just another murder of an innocent Protestant by the UVF," said one senior LVF figure.
The killers' getaway car was found burning a short distance from the shooting close to Lisnasharragh PSNI station.
Det Chief Supt Phil Wright appealed for public assistance in tracking down the killers. "It's a heinous crime, I can't find words to describe it. But there are witnesses out there who can come forward and help us find who did this."
Tensions between the UVF and LVF have been constant since Mid-Ulster UVF leader Billy Wright - who was murdered in the Maze Prison in 1997 - was stood down by the organisation in 1996 and formed the LVF. They regularly flared in serious blood-letting. This latest incident follows from a number of recent shootings in Belfast and reports that a number of UVF members had been warned by the police that they were under threat from the LVF.
Neither Mr David Ervine nor Mr Billy Hutchinson of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP), which is linked to the UVF, would comment about the murder yesterday, saying they knew nothing of the circumstances behind the killing.
The PUP was recently fined £27,000 by Northern Secretary Mr Paul Murphy after the Independent Monitoring Commission ruled that the UVF was implicated in two killings since January last year: the murder of 31-year-old John Allen from Ballyclare, Co Antrim in November last year and the murder of 47-year-old Andrew Cully from Greyabbey, Co Down in March this year.
This latest murder could have further repercussions for the PUP when the IMC produces its next report in the autumn. Mr Ervine, in condemning the IMC's recent report, said that the PUP was striving to ensure that the UVF fully observed its ceasefire and said the IMC's adjudication was making his party's work more difficult.
The North's Security Minister, Mr Ian Pearson, described the killing as callous and said he would be in close contact with the PSNI as its investigation progresses. The PSNI has not said who it believes killed Mr Stewart.
Since January last year loyalist paramilitaries killed nine people while republicans killed three. In an interview in this week's Belfast Newsletter the UVF said that it was "at a crossroads" and warned that it could be provoked back to "war" by the actions of the IRA and dissident republicans.
Ulster Unionist MLA Mr Michael Copeland said the murder demonstrated that the North was "sitting on a ticking time bomb". Ms Ruth Patterson of the DUP said feuding between paramilitaries was no excuse for such an "absolutely appalling" crime. Mr Joe O'Donnell of Sinn Féin said people in east Belfast would be nervous that this killing would mark the beginning of yet another period of internecine loyalist feuding and that this eventually could lead to attacks on nationalists. The SDLP Lord Mayor of Belfast, Mr Martin Morgan, said there was "no place in Belfast for murder, violence and paramilitary attacks".
