Pub murderers' release in doubt

Railway Bar, Poyntzpass: Scene of double murder

Two loyalists sentenced to life imprisonment for the double murder of lifelong friends, may have lost their right to early release under the Good Friday Agreement.

Thirty-year-old Stephen McClean and Noel McCready, 33, both from Banbridge, County Down, were due to be released next Friday.

They were jailed after lifelong friends Philip Allen, a Protestant, and Damien Trainor, a Catholic, were shot dead in the Railway Bar in Poyntzpass, County Armagh, in 1998.

On sentencing them to life last February the judge said the murders had been "among the most heinous ever committed" in the province.

McClean and McCready thought the bar was only frequented by Catholics.

There was outrage when it became clear the two men would qualify for early release on 28 July.

Stephen McClean: Convicted of double murder

But the High Court heard on Friday that Secreary of State Peter Mandelson has asked the Sentence Review Commission to keep the pair locked up.

They had been re-arrested earlier this month while on temporary home leave.

They were subsequently remanded in custody, along with three others, on a charge of attempting to murder a man in Banbridge after he objected to the removal of paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) flags.

When McClean and McCready applied for bail on Friday, a letter from the head of the Prison Service was handed to Mr Justice McLaughlin by a Crown lawyer.

Noel McCready: Sentenced to life

The letter stated that if the Sentence Review Commission granted Mr Mandelson's application, the two prisoners would cease to be eligible for release on 28 July and would be dealt with as ordinary life sentence prisoners.

Refusing bail, Mr Justice McLaughlin referred to the current dispute between the smaller paramilitary splinter group, the Loyalist Volunteer Force ( LVF) and the larger UVF.

He said the Poyntzpass murders were associated with the LVF, and on the very day McClean and McCready were paroled, it was alleged they attacked a man during the removal of UVF flags.

The judge added: "The court is aware these two organisations are in dispute and in my opinion it would be improper to grant bail in the present circumstances."