Senior loyalist blames rogue paramilitaries for arson on family home

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A senior Ards loyalist has blamed rogue paramilitaries for petrol bombing a family out of their home.

The Newtownards family, who are now homeless, are lucky to be alive, after petrol was poured into their house and set alight.

The husband has been at the centre of a 'smear campaign', by some Bowtown estate residents, since last year, accused by some, of inappropriate behaviour with a young boy.

The man has not been charged with any crime and has described the allegations as 'a vendetta'.

Last December, residents, including children, held a silent protest outside the family's home.

They held placards which read: 'This community does not want the likes of you in our community', another read, 'Get them out.'

On Friday, arsonists broke the front windows of the family's home and torched it. Thankfully no one was in the house at the time.

The mother, who was at her son's school, came home to find her house up in smoke and the couple's home of 13 years is now uninhabitable.

They had no home insurance and have literally lost everything.

Standing in her scorched kitchen, the mother told the Chronicle: "We have lost absolutely everything. Even our child's baby photographs are ruined. They are scum, absolute scum, who have no respect for anybody's property or anybody's life. I could have been at home, my husband could have been at home. If I stop and think about it, I'll just break down in tears. But I have to get on with it. Not even an animal deserves to have their home and their sentimental items burnt to a cinder."

The family believe someone hired a 'contract paramilitary maverick' to burn them out of their home.

A reliable source told the Chronicle there are at least five loyalist paramilitary groups in the Ards and North Down areas, with at least 300 UVF members in Ards alone.

The husband told the Chronicle: "In this estate, if you are not sleeping with the UVF, or paying them, then you don't fall into the category of 'protected'.

"These people have no qualms doing these things. I am an ex-security force member. We are not involved in their gangs. We just wanted to live here in peace. They have destroyed anything that we had. The people who did this are scum. They are not men, they are not heroes. I told the cul-de-sac commander, (a senior local loyalist) 'tell these people to come to my house during daytime'. He just said it wasn't one of 'his people'."

Las December, after the protest by residents, Phillip Knox, Area Commander for Ards District PSNI, told the Chronicle: "There seems to be ongoing intimidation against this gentleman and his family. We do not want to see a situation that is already quite tense, inflamed any further. This is a situation that could get nasty. Obviously this man and his family do not want to move from their home, and no one should be allowed to intimidate another from their own house. Police are been diverted from other work, work such as attending the scene of burglaries, to protect the family, because other people are intimidating them, so this is also becoming a question of resources."

Speaking to the Chronicle in an exclusive interview, a senior loyalist from Ards, blamed an 'outside' paramilitary group, who pandered to 'the folly of residents'.

Read the full report in this week's Chronicle.