The Story as Reported:

Loyalist jailed over press event

A member of a loyalist political group who admitted fronting a paramilitary press conference has been jailed for two-and-a-half years. Denis Cunningham, 52, from Agnes Street in west Belfast, pleaded guilty to professing to be a member of the outlawed Ulster Freedom Fighters.

Cunningham, a member of the Ulster Political Research Group, wore a mask during the January 2002 conference.
A Belfast Crown Court judge said he had been part of a "grotesque spectacle".

The court heard that Cunningham chaired the conference on 15 January 2002, wearing his glasses over a balaclava.

He said he was a member of the UFF and called on the loyalist Red Hand Defenders to "stand down" after the murder of Catholic postal worker, Daniel McColgan.

The Red Hand Defenders had previously been used as a cover name by the UFF.

Mask

Prosecution QC Paul Ramsey told the court the police investigation began after the BBC's Panorama programme alleged that Cunningham was the man behind the mask.

His voice was subsequently forensically linked to recordings taken of him speaking on behalf of the Ulster Political Research Group. Mr Justice Gillen said the conference had been a "grotesque spectacle of masked and armed men surrounded by you arrogantly bestriding our TV screens... disfiguring our whole society".

Independent councillor Frank McCoubrey, Father Gary Donegan from Holy Cross Parish Church and Shankill Presbyterian minister Rev Mervyn Gibson told the court Cunningham had been "instrumental in advancing cross-community relations".

The judge said the sentence would have been longer if it had not been for this evidence.

I Say:

I know Denis is out now, and I hope he won't take too much offence at me reminding him of this rather embarrassing little episode. I don't know, I might be getting soft, but I actually felt sorry for the poor bastard.

Do you not think the judge was taking a cheap shot by accusing him of being involved in a "grotesque SPECTACLE"!

I mean it's bad enough to get put away but imagine having to take the stick he obviously got. Every morning in life inside not only had he to deal with the hassle and strife of imprisonment. But worse on top of that he'd to endure the inevitable taunts of 'you should have went to SpecSavers' shouted after him!

The really sad thing about this story is that the Denis seemed to have been the genuine article, in so far as he was attempting to move towards a new peaceful future. I've never heard of a Catholic priests going as a character witness for a Loyalist paramilitary before.

At least Denis left prison with his head held high having proved one thing for certain, he was no informer! If he had been, he'd have been whisked away and a new pair of glasses would have been provided for him within hours of the first television interview.

We can all remember the pictures of a rather diminutive thick set Loyalist posing with a colour party at a Shankill bonfire some years ago.
He too was wearing a balaclava but you didn't have to be Sherlock Holmes to work out who he was! I wonder how many five foot odd leading Loyalist paramilitaries of his shape were running around the Shankill at that time. Let me think...none!

Don't jump to conclusions now. I'm in no way casting aspersions on the credibility of the said gentleman. All I'm pondering is how there at times seemed to be a law for one person and not for the other!