Men jailed over weapons offences

Two men from Lisburn have been jailed for eight years after pleading guilty to a number of weapons charges.

Darren Kenneth Grant, 27, of Ashmount Park and Anthony Madden, 24, of Ashmount Gardens had six sub-machine guns, ammunition and three pipe bombs.

The arms were found in a taxi driver's house who had been forced to keep them.

Passing sentence at the Crown Court, the judge said UDA leaders were making money illegally while masquerading as defenders of their own community.

Mr Justice Weir said he accepted that neither of the men intended to use the weapons themselves and as such was prepared to treat them as "bag men".

However, he said that the quantity of the munitions was an aggravating factor.

Both Grant and Madden also agreed to serve a further 18 months on probation.