Agency can seize LVF man's assets

Stephen Warnock was shot dead in his car

Assets of £200,000 owned by murdered LVF man Stephen Warnock can be seized by the Assets Recovery Agency, the High Court has ruled.

They include a £100,000 insurance policy, over £40,000 found in his car on the day he was shot and the proceeds of the sale of a house in Newtownards.

Warnock, 35, was shot dead in his car in September, 2002, in Newtownards.

The judge said the agency was relying on the police belief that Warnock was a major supplier of cannabis and ecstasy.

Mr Justice Girvan said the evidence had entirely satisfied him that Warnock was pursuing a criminal lifestyle which generated significant sums of money obtained from illegitimate sources.

Mural

"The evidence establishes that he was a senior figure in the LVF," the judge said.

"An LVF mural in Holywood depicts him as a brigadier in that organisation which is an unlawful paramilitary organisation involved in various criminal activities."

The judge said the PSNI believed that Warnock had become involved in drug trafficking on a significant scale.

Commenting on the £40,000 found in the LVF man's car he said: "The lack of any explanation as to a lawful source, the criminal background and associations of the deceased, all point to the overwhelming conclusion that the money was the proceeds of crime and recoverable property."

Also included in the assets which can be seized is a home entertainment system worth £6,000.

Warnock was driving his three-year-old daughter to school when he was murdered. She escaped injury when a gunman on a motorcycle pulled alongside and fired 15 shots into her father's car.