It's also the same block of flats where convicted drug-dealer and former UVF commander David 'Dee' McConnell lives when he's in Belfast. Our picture shows one of the cars damaged though it's if it was the main target. The other two cars were removed by Wednesday morning but the third remained there for several days after the attack.
Verner has a notorious reputation having assaulted four women including subjecting one to a terrifying ordeal, threatening to cut off her fingers before raping her.
PROTECTION
After serving seven years of a 10-year sentence behind bars, he was released in 2018 but told not to return to north Belfast by the UDA. Fortunately for him, while he was in he palled up with east Belfast ex-UVF boss McConnell - who once faced a rape charge himself until the criminal charges were dropped when his female accuser took her own life.
The UVF gave Verner protection - much to the disgust of locals in east Belfast - and it's understood a group of local women made it clear to the local UVF (unit) leadership just how disgusted they were. And McConnell helped set Verner up in an apartment - in the same block McConnell lived in himself.
But when the local newspaper the Sunday World (pictured above) run with the story at the time, Jamie Bryson came out on Twitter to defend 'Vermin Verner' (a copy of the Tweet can be seen below) and protect the reputation of the East Belfast UVF.
But Verner was returned to prison in 2019 after breaching his licence by hanging out with members of the local unit of the UVF and with the likes of McConnell, who has a conviction for drug dealing. While inside, the UVF turned on Verner and withdrew their support for him, coinciding with McConnell reportedly being stood down from the UVF for allegedly trousering cash.
Verner was expected to be released recently but he told pals inside he was planning to start a new life in Scotland - once again, and no doubt coincidentally, just like David 'Dee' McConnell has done.
Locals reported a car burnt-out on Monday night (pictured above) belonging to Verner and it's not clear if he has actually been released from jail or if he's in the country as the charred remains of one high-end vehicle was still sitting melted to its parking space all week.
Police confirmed to the Sunday World they don't believe the two gun attacks in the same area this week - one of them on the same night as the arson attack - are linked. They said: "Police are appealing for information following the report of a car on fire in the Inveraray Avenue area of east Belfast in the early hours of Tuesday morning (March 1st)." At 2.45am, it was reported to police that a car, a Ford Kuga, parked in the area had been set alight. The fire then spread to two cars parked nearby with a second car also sustaining extensive damage." The fire is being treated as arson at this stage. A man at the scene at the time was described as wearing a gray tracksuit with the hood pulled up over his head. He ran off in the direction of Hollywood Road before getting into another vehicle and making off."
The move against Verner could signify the end of Dee McConnell's 'welcome' in east Belfast as not only is the attack on Verner being viewed as a warning sign to him for him for inviting Verner into the east in the first place. A judge in 2012 said she was passing an extended sentence on Verner as she believed he was a danger to women. Verner had taken the woman prisioner to his home and sexually attacked her. At one point he promised an interrogation of "10 minutes of honesty" but that for each supposed lie she told, he could cut off the tip of one of her fingers.
With many thanks to the: Sunday World and Stephen Moore for the EXCLUSIVE original story - steven.moore@sundayworld.com
Follow these links to find out more updates on this story: Belfast Rapist Gerry Verner Back in Jail
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