Leading loyalist Winston Rea charged over Belfast murders of two Catholic men
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Leading loyalist Winston Rea charged over Belfast murders of two Catholic men

 

FORMER Loyalist Winston Rea has been charged with the Belfast murders of John Benedict Devine and John O'Hara in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Rea appeared at Laganside Magistrates court, Belfast on Monday June 6 and pleaded not guilty to a number of charges including two counts of murder related to the sectarian shootings.

The investigation into the murders was reopened in September 2015.

Rea, who appeared in court in a wheelchair, had previously taken part in the Boston College Belfast Project. The interviews which begun in 2001 recorded detailed accounts from those involved in both sides of the Troubles.

Those who took part in the interviews did so under the belief they would not be made available until after their deaths.

In February of this year Rea lost a legal battle to stop the PSNI from obtaining the tapes.

The charges against him also include membership of  proscribed organisation The Red Hand Commandos.

The Red Hand Commandos were a secretive Ulster loyalist group with links to the UVF.

It is a criminal offence to belong to a proscribed group under the 2000 Terrorism Act.

Rea of Groomsport, Co.Down denies all the charges against him.