Searches follow nail attack

Harry McCartan was severely injured in attack

Police investigating a brutal attack in which a man had his hands nailed to a fence in Belfast have carried out a search operation and seized various items.

Five properties and a derelict flat in the loyalist Seymour Hill housing estate, near where Harry McCartan was found on Saturday morning, were searched on Monday night.

Items including clothing, bats, knives and a computer were seized and one flat is now being more closely examined, said police.

Mr McCartan, 23, a Catholic, had his right leg broken and suffered numerous puncture wounds in a vicious beating before being nailed to the stile in the assault, which has been blamed on loyalists.

A baseball bat was one of the weapons seized

He was released from prison last month after serving a sentence for car crime and the police said they believed he was injured in a vigilante attack.

But his family said they believed it was sectarian.

During the search of the housing estate, a spokeswoman for the area's residents' association said it did not condone what had happened.

"But feelings have been running high since a large spate of vehicle crime in our area," she said.

"Hopefully the incident has brought more attention for more policing to prevent any further car crime."

Security Minister Jane Kennedy said: "Nothing justifies this kind of barbaric attack.

"Young people deserve to be treated justly and fairly and communities and paramilitary groups must not feel that they have the right to mete out this kind of treatment."

On Monday, Mr McCartan spoke to a BBC reporter about the attack for the first time from his hospital bed.

He had had to be cut free by firefighters and underwent a five-hour operation on Sunday to remove the nails from his hands.

'Cowards'

"Nobody should be treated like this," he said. "They are just cowards. I was on my own and it took more than four people to do this to me.

"They are lower than animals."

Mr McCartan said the last thing he remembered was arguing with a friend and driving around looking for him.

He said: "When I woke up my knees were aching and my hands, and I saw all the blood running out of my eyes and my mouth and I just thought it was a dream.

Henry McCartan had to identify his son by his tattoo

When he was brought into hospital Harry McCartan's father Henry had to identify him from a tattoo on his arm because he was bleeding from his eyes and mouth and was so badly bruised.

On Monday a figure within the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association said the attack on Harry McCartan was not "orchestrated" by the UDA but was "definitely" carried out by loyalists.

Mr McCartan admitted he had been involved in anti-social behaviour in the past.

But his brother Neil, 31, said: "Harry got out of jail in October. He was trying to get onto the straight and narrow. I don't think this bears any relation to his life of crime.

"They knew that he was from Poleglass. They knew they had a Catholic. I think he was left there to die. It was remote and I don't think he was meant to be found alive.

He also appealed to anyone who knew anything about the attack to go to the police.

The attack has been condemned by the police and local politicians.