PA MediaThe former Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader has said he will write to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) over the sentence handed to high-profile loyalist Winston Irvine.
On Tuesday, the 49-year-old of Ballysillian Road in north Belfast was given a two and a half year sentence, after previously admitting to a range of firearm and ammunition offences.
Irvine will spend half of his two and a half year sentence in custody and the other half on license.
Doug Beattie described the sentence as “bizarre” following Irvine’s choice to not give any explanation for the weaponry discovered in June 2022.
Belfast Crown Court heard Irvine had made no comment during police interviews, providing a prepared statement outlining his reputation as a “trusted interlocutor” during Northern Ireland’s peace process.
During sentencing, the judge said despite the guilty plea, he did not consider the crimes to be connected to terrorism.
Beattie said that reasoning was “appalling”.
PA Media“Here we have a man at a time when tensions were heightened in Northern Ireland due to issues around Brexit and the protocol who was found with weapons and ammunition,” he told Radio Ulster’s Nolan Show.
“How on earth the judge can say there was no terrorist link to this is utterly bizarre if we don’t know what the weapons were for.”
‘Sentence’ sends out a bad message
PSNIIrvine’s co-accused, 54-year-old Robin Workman, of Shore Road in Larne, was sentenced to five years – the minimum custodial sentence.
Beattie said there were questions over why Irvine did not receive the mandatory term and said he will be writing to the PPS over the decision.
“I don’t think that there is any exceptional circumstances to carrying guns around our city,” he added.
“You can’t say you’re a peacemaker on one hand, and then during the day time you help move deadly weapons and ammunition around the place.
“The two don’t match together.”
The UUP’s justice spokesperson said that the sentence sends out a bad message, and said the judiciary needs to get “a grip of this”.
