Two charged with UDA boss murder

Two Antrim men have appeared in court charged with murdering a loyalist paramilitary leader in October 2000.

The charges follow a new investigation into the murder of Ulster Defence Association chief Tommy English.

Samuel Higgins, 32, of The Meadow, and Philip Laffin, 31, from Bridge Street, were remanded in custody, neither man having applied for bail.

A detective sergeant told Belfast Magistrates Court he believed he could connect both men with the charges.

A total of eight men, including alleged police agent Mark Haddock, have now appeared in court charged in connection with Tommy English's murder.

Samuel Higgins faces further counts of hijacking, false imprisonment and membership of the Ulster Volunteer Force between 1996 and 2000.

The court was also told a charge of kidnapping against Laffin had been withdrawn.

Both men were arrested as part of inquiries by the Historical Enquiries Team - a specialist police unit set up to investigate unsolved killings throughout the Northern Ireland conflict.

Charged

Meanwhile, two 32-year-old men are to appear in court in Belfast on Thursday, charged with murdering Mr English.

One of the men also faces a charge of membership of a proscribed organisation.

Mr English, 40, was part of a loyalist delegation which took part in talks at Stormont prior to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

He was shot dead in front of his wife at their home on the Ballyduff Estate, Newtownabbey on Halloween night, during a feud between rival UDA and UVF factions which claimed seven lives.

Two brothers last month admitted aiding and abetting the murder of Mr English.