Paisley ordered to attend court

Mr Paisley says he will not reveal his source.

Ian Paisley Jr has been told to appear at the High Court over his failure to comply with the Billy Wright tribunal.

At Stormont on Wednesday, he was hand-delivered a "notice of motion to punish for contempt" over his failure to give the name of a prison officer.

Mr Paisley claims the officer gave him vital information about procedures at the Maze prison where the loyalist leader was shot dead in 1997.

Mr Paisley repeated his vow not to reveal the name.

The summons requires him to appear before Belfast High Court judge Mr Justice Gillen on Thursday morning.

Mr Paisley said: "I can't give the name of my sources, it would not be the credible thing to do, it would not be the honest thing to do, it would not be the just thing to do."

He faces a range of possible penalties including a fine which could render him bankrupt or a prison term.

Mr Paisley said the courts understood the dilemma he was in.

"If the courts think it is the sensible and credible thing for them to do, to put a public representative in jail for the first time on the issue of contempt like this, the public would see that as completely and totally over-reacting.

"It is devastating for justice that a public representative doing the right thing be put in jail because of the Billy Wright tribunal."

He added: "I think that would make a laughing stock of the tribunal."