Wright 'told Robinson of fears'

LVF leader Billy Wright was shot dead in the Maze Prison in 1997

DUP MP Peter Robinson has been giving evidence at the Billy Wright Inquiry about claims the loyalist paramilitary leader had made to him.

Mr Robinson told the inquiry into the 1997 murder of the LVF leader in the Maze Prison that Wright told him he believed he would be killed.

He said Wright had told him about a meeting between then-PM John Major and loyalist politicians at Downing Street.

The July 1996 meeting was six months before he was imprisoned, he said.

A public inquiry into the killing was announced in November 2004 following claims of security force collusion.

The finance minister told the inquiry in Banbridge that Wright believed the question about how to deal with him had been raised by David Ervine of the UVF-linked Progressive Unionist Party (PUP).

Mr Robinson said Wright had told him about the Downing Street meeting between Mr Major and representatives from the PUP and Ulster Democratic Party shortly after it happened.

Outside the inquiry, his father David Wright said he believed his son was a "political roadblock" and the decision had been taken to remove him.

He said his son had intended to appeal his conviction for making threats to kill.