Blackmail gang gets 18 years jail

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/7223323.stm

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A blackmail gang, which included a former loyalist killer, has been jailed for a total of 18 and a half years.

The four Belfast men attempted to extort £22,000 from a businessman known only as 'witness A' during a plot in May 2005.

They are David Gillies, 25, murderer Robert Molyneaux, 40, Darren McAllister, 25, and Ronald Waller 20.

They held a gun to the victims head and threatened to burn down his home with him and his family inside.

A judge told Belfast Crown Court that blackmail "preys on the soul of a victim... deterrent sentences must be passed by the court when those who are guilty are brought to justice".

All four, with the exception of getaway driver Waller, pleaded guilty, Friday's hearing was told.

Molyneaux, from Glenbank Place, was given two life sentences for the 1987 murders of Edward Campbell and James Meighan, both Catholics. He was released under the Good Friday Agreement.

He pleaded guilty to possessing a sawn off shotgun and three cartridges with intent to endanger life.

McAllister also pleaded guilty to having a pistol which police found under the floorboards of his bedroom at Alliance Road.

The gang was caught after undercover police swooped on a garage near Nutt's Corner just after witness A handed over the bag containing the cash in May 2005.

The handover had been arranged by Gillies, from Sunningdale Grove, during a series of covertly recorded phonecalls.

The gang had told the witness they had taken over a debt he owed to his former business partner, Stephen Connor, which the victim denied he owed.

Mr Connor, from Knockleigh Drive in Greenisland, has yet to stand trial for the blackmail plot due to medical grounds.