Top loyalist jailed over gun

Andre Shoukri had said gun was for personal protection

A leading north Belfast loyalist has been jailed for six years for having a gun and bullets in suspicious circumstances.

Andre Shoukri, 26, from Sunninghill Gardens, was cleared of the more serious charge of possession with intent to endanger life on Tuesday.

Shoukri was also sentenced to two years to run concurrently on charges of possession of a firearm and ammunition without certificates.

He had denied the charges, claiming the gun was for his own personal protection.

Shoukri initially denied knowing anything about the pistol when stopped in a car leaving the loyalist Rathcoole estate on 21 September last year, Belfast Crown Court heard.

However, he later told police he obtained the weapon after being told of a death threat from other loyalists.

He told the court last week that he obtained a gun the day after a close friend told him UDA commander Johnny Adair was going to "take him out".

'Not passive'

Lord Justice McCollum said: "While there was a real threat to the defendant and there were persons prepared to murder him if given the opportunity, I am not satisfied at the probability that the defendant would not have used the weapon aggressively, or that he would have confined its use to self-defence.

"I am of the opinion that Mr Shoukri's bearing and demeanour is not that of a passive victim who would only be prepared to use such a weapon in self-defence."

The judge said he took Shoukri's two previous Crown Court convictions - one for wounding and another for the blackmail of two Belfast coffee shops - into account when deciding what length of sentence to impose.

After the verdict was delivered, Shoukri was immediately handcuffed and led from the dock, pausing to wave to about a dozen supporters in the public gallery.

Shoukri was taken to Maghaberry Prison, where he will be reunited with his brother Ihab, who is currently awaiting trial for last month's murder of 21-year-old Shankill loyalist Alan McCullough.

Johnny Adair - a sworn rival of both men - is also a prisoner in Maghaberry.