Loyalists who took part in a UDA commemoration parade have been convicted for wearing paramilitary-style clothing.
Five of six accused was wearing a UDA armband during parades in Derry and Ballymoney.
Delivering his judgement at Coleraine Magistrates Court District Judge Peter King said: “They can do nothing but arouse a reasonable suspicion that they were either a member of a supporter of the UDA”.
Five defendants were charged with two offences of wearing clothing or having articles “in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he was a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation”.
One man had faced one charge and only one of the men was not accused of wearing a “UDA armband”.
The six defendants are:
- Kris McGrath (37) from Blackthorn Court in Coleraine
- Jamie Mckee (27) from Quickthorn place, Coleraine
- Stephen McNeill (61) from Rochester Court, Coleraine,
- Richard McConaghie (35) Greystone Crescent, Dervock
- Jason Dale Anderson (47) Alexandra Avenue, Ballymoney
- Nicholas Greenfield (40) Bannfield, Ballymoney
According to their lawyers, the six defendants were all taking part in a commemoration parade on September 25 2021.
According to the prosecution, however they were all wearing UDA clothing and as such, the court can infer that each man “was a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation, namely the UDA”.
Delivering his ruling on Monday, Judge King said there had been two parades that day, one in Derry and another in Ballymoney, each identical with the same people involved, wearing the same clothing and carrying the same items.
Both parades had been captured in video footage by police and the judge outlined how each of the defendants had been wearing “loyalist paramilitary garb” including combat shirts and sunglasses as well as armbands marked with the UDA crest. There had also been some poppy wreaths marked with UDA Battalion identifiers.
Judge King said that by the time of the parade, the UDA had been an illegal organisation for almost 30 years.
Turning to the defence skeleton arguments, he summarised how they submit it was a historical parade, commemorating the UDA when it was a legal organisation.
“I regret to say that after some consideration, I reject that argument,” Judge King ruled.
“At some stage in a currently proscribed organisation’s history they were not proscribed. As in the UDA case a period of terrorist criminality by an organisation will trigger a decision to proscribe.
“Should supporters of such an organisation wish to subvert the relevant section, all they would have to do was pick a moment in time before proscription and manufacture a foundation on which to commemorate.”
While McGrath was the only one not wearing a UDA armband, Judge King said he was not making any difference because he “was in the midst of a sea of armband wearing marchers and dressed in quasi military uniform, behaving in exactly the manner as those around him”.
Having entered guilty pleas for all defendants on each of the charges, the judge said he would pass sentence on January 24.