UVF Terrorist - Turned Peacemaker - Turned Terrorist - Winston 'Winkie' Irvine suspended from Intercomm Ireland without pay

THE north Belfast-based organisation that employs UVF terrorist Winston 'Winkie' Irvine has suspended him without pay.

       (L-R) Pictured: Rodney Champion,               Project worker, Winston 'Winkie'                Irvine, Intercomm – Carrickfergus               Project Manager, Paddy Harte, IFI              Chairperson and Jamie-Lee Moagy,                            Project worker. 

    BOTTOM PICTURE: 'Winkie' unmasked                       in UVF balaclava. 

Mr Irvine was one of two men caught red-handed transporting terrorist weaponry in north Belfast. He claimed at the time ACC Bobby Singleton was fully aware they being transported for the purpose of decommissioning a claim later rebuked by ACC Singleton. The PSNI pat the time of his arrest said: "It had all the hallmarks of a terrorist operation". 

Two men were arrested at the time Mr Irvine along with Robin Workman earlier this month by police investigating a hoax bomb alert targeting Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney in north Belfast in March. When they intercepted Irvine's SUV he was found to be carrying firearms and over 2000 rounds of ammunition. 

He later appeared in court charged with several offences including possession of firearms and ammunition in suspicious circumstances. In a statement last night, a spokesman for his employer, Intercomm Ireland, which describes itself as a "conflict resolution organisation", said "It took the decision on Wednesday 15th June 2022 to suspend Mr Irvine, without pay". 

The spokesman added that the decision will be reviewed on July 1st. Mr Irvine is due to appear in court on that date. It has been reported that he is employed by the group as a project manager earning £35,000 per year. Earlier this week it was confirmed that he had resigned from the board of a west Belfast housing association. 

In a statement, Woodvale and Shankill Community Housing Association confirmed Mr Irvine was no longer a board member or director of its subsidiaries. 

Yesterday The Irish News also revealed other concerns that have been raised about Mr Irvine's involvement in a £5.1 million project funded through European peace money with the support of the Irish government. 

With many thanks to the: Irish News and Connla Young for the original publication.

Follow these links to find out more on this story and other stories regarding Mr Irvine: Pup's Winston 'Winkie' Irvine exposed as UVF Commander

Housing association linked to loyalist UVF boss Winston 'Winkie' Irvine to meet 'to discuss the current situation'

UVF Call To Arms Over Protocol Doomsday Scenario

PSNI/RUC Assistant Chief Constable and Winston Irvine did not talk about decommissioning weapons before arms find, court told.

UVF Call To Arms Over Protocol Doomsday Scenario

DOWN TO THE WIRE: LOYALIST GANGS TO RETALIATE IF LAW CHANGE HALTED

UVF leaders have authorised weapons dumps to be re-opened as they prepare for a Protocol doomsday. UVF terrorist units across the north have been placed on standby as they await the verdict on the controversial legislation due to go through parliament which, if passed, will effectively rip up parts of the EU Withdrawal Treaty.

  UVF: "If NI is cut off from the rest of the    UK... if that's not a doomsday scenario         for loyalists... I don't know what is" 

The Sunday World understands terror chiefs are preparing to put the organisation on a "war footing"

But the question still remains 'that noone is able to answer' a war with whom?

    PUP leader Billy Hutchinson, top left,           along with Winston Irvine, top right,                    and Jamie Bryson, below. 

Well-placed sources have indicated that guns and ammunition have already been removed from UVF weapons dumps and placed with UVF terrorist units across *orthern Ireland.

It had been thought the leadership had rowed back from continuing with their campaign of violence over the Protocol after community groups in loyalist areas were warned state funding would be at risk.

                          INITIATED 

The Irish Government has already initiated a full-scale audit of all grant aid issued by Dublin since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. The British have already indicated there are no plans for them to follow a similar path but loyalist leaders have been left in no doubt that civic disruption will have consequences on their own communities. And at a time when communities are struggling with the cost of living crisis and many families are now reliant on foodbanks, they risk alienating their own communities against them. But the Sunday World understands the leadership feels it has little choice, having taken the position that the Protocol must go. There is a strong likelihood the controversial legislation put before parliament at the start of last week will not garner enough support to pass into law.

      LOYALIST: Terrorist chiefs open up              weapons dumps and put UVF units                                 on standby. 

                         CHANNELS 

The bill sets out green and (orange) red  channels for goods flowing between the North and GB, with the government stating it also protects the EU open market but fails to state it also gives the DUP a veto on the future workings of the NI protocol. But it has drawn stinging criticism from all but the unionist parties at Stormont as well as the British Labour Party in Westminster and the majority of the British press in England, all of whom have accused Boris Johnson’s administration of flagrantly breaking International law. 

The UK's International isolation was further underlined with condemnation from the US and with the EU issuing legal action.

It is against this backdrop that the UVF leadership is preparing for a renewal of its armed struggle. "They feel they have no choice," said our source, "and, as we all know, they have access to guns. There might have been decommissioning back in the day but not everything was handed over and they have been re-arming for years."

There has even been speculation that weaponry from a huge arms consignment smuggled into the province from South Africa in 1988 could be accessed. The cache, which was split between the UVF, UDA and Ulster Resistance, was partially intercepted but it is estimated a third of the consignment got through and was consealed in loyalist sealed arms dumps.

      UVF BOSS: Winston 'Winkie' Irvine,          pictured, photo above, and below, his          SUV were they discovered firearms,         magazines and more than 200 rounds           of ammunition in a holdall in the                               boot of his car. 

Is this what UVF boss Winston 'Winkie' Irvine and his co-accused Robin Workman were up to when arrested last week. We're they opening up the UVF weapons dumps and re-arming UVF terrorist units in the north Belfast area? 

Largely in the hands of the shadowy Ulster Resistance, the guns and ammunition are being preserved for a "doomsday scenario".

"That could be closer than we think," said our source, "if the Brexit sea border is not removed *orthern Ireland is effectively cut off from the rest of the UK - if that's not a doomsday scenario for loyalists, I don't know what is."

The DUP has stated there is no prospect of a return to Stormont while the Protocol remains in place, but the prospect of legal action from the EU and no guarantees of enough support in the House of Commons and even less so in the House of Lords (not a hope in hell in the Lords actually), the best they can hope for is negotiated change, which is what has been said from the very beginning its between the EU and GB the Stormont parties have no say in the negotiations.

  LCC: The shadowey loyalist paramilitary   umbrella group the Loyalist Communities      Council, made up of members of the         UVF,  UDA and Red Hand Commando                                terrorists. 

But the UVF and the shadowey loyalist paramilitary umbrella group the Loyalist Communities Council stating that nothing but its abolition will do, observers believe a return to some form of violent campaign is inevitable. The rise in tensions come at the end of a week in which two prominent loyalists appeared in court on charges relating to the seizure of an arms cache in Belfast earlier this month. 

Belfast Magistrates Court heard that police believe a man (Robin Workman) accused of firearms offences transported a haul of weapons to a meeting with high-profile loyalist Winston Irvine. Robin Workman (51), from the Shore Road in Larne, was denied bail. Workman, along with Irvine, were arrested the previous week as police were investigating a security alert that led to Irish government Minister Simon Coveney being evacuated from a peace event. Irvine appeared in court charged firearms offences last Saturday.

Workman was charged with possession of a firearm in suspicious circumstances, possession of a prohibited firearm, possession of a handgun without a certificate and possession of ammunition without a certificate. 

         AT the time: Shortly after the the              security alert involving Mr Irvine it             was implied in the Belfast Telegraph                that the UVF boss, Irvine was                    transporting these weapons to be                decommissioned with the full                      knowledge of Assistant Chief                       Constable Bobby Singleton. 

                          CONNECT 

A PSNI detective inspector told the court that he could connect Workman to the charges. 

During the hearing, a defence lawyer asked the officer if it was accurate that during Irvine's weekend court appearance, his counsel had suggested he was acting as "some form of decommissioning interlocutor".

The officer said that had been implied by Irvine's lawyer. 

  Winston Irvine's SUV being recovered by       police in investigation into the arms                         and ammunition find. 

Irvine was arrested and his SUV was seized (Image above), in Disraeli Street after police officers observed meeting the driver of a red VW van, and officers discovered a number of firearms, magazines and more than 200 rounds of ammunition in a holdall in the boot of his SUV. Workman was arrested in Ballymena later the same day.

"The police case is this has all the hallmarks of a paramilitary operation," a police officer told the court. "The quantity of what was found includes a large range of different calibre ammunition."Our concern would be that we have recovered a wide range of ammunition with weapons that they are not compatible with so believe there are other weapons available that this ammunition would marry up with.

"Our case is that the applicant transported them to the meeting with his co-accused to be handed over.

"He therefore has knowledge of the (arms dumps) storage locations of other weapons where this arms cache was recovered from."

   PSNI Assistant Chief Constable denies       any prior knowledge he was aware of      weapons being decommissioned before                         Irvine's arrest. 

A defence lawyer said Workman had denied during three days of questioning police interview that he was the individual who'd met Irvine in Belfast. 

He added: "This case should be distinguished entirely from his co-accused.

      SUSPECTED: UVF activists, Robin             Workman, circled in red, above top,          and Winston Irvine, unmasked above. 

His co-accused is somewhat of a high-profile individual. He made the case that he will be calling a galaxy of witnesses to attest to his efficacy and his works in the peace process. "This man is not like that, he is a self-employed joiner with no criminal record whatsoever."

The district judge denied bail. Both men have been remanded in custody to appear again on July 1st.

With many thanks to the: Sunday World and Richard Sullivan for the EXCLUSIVE original story.

Follow these links to find out more on this story: PSNI/RUC Assistant Chief Constable and Winston Irvine did not talk about decommissioning weapons before arms find, court told.

Bail denied for second suspected UVF member on firearms and ammunition charges arrested with leading loyalist on Shankill Road.

Housing association linked to loyalist UVF boss Winston 'Winkie' Irvine to meet 'to discuss the current situation'

Prominent loyalist UVF boss listed as a director of several companies

PSNI/RUC Assistant Chief Constable and Winston Irvine did not talk about decommissioning weapons before arms find, court told.

The top policeman confirmed no conversation took place the day before a bag full of guns and ammo was found

        UVF ACTIVISTS: Robin Workman,              circled in red, and Winston 'Winkie'                    Irvine, unmasked above 

                     20th Jun, 2022. 

A PSNI chief has never held discussions with leading loyalist Winston Irvine about decommissioning weapons, the High Court heard today.

.   UVF BOSS: Winston 'Winkie' Irvine on           firearms and ammunition charges. 

Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton has also confirmed no telephone conversation took place between them on the day before a bag full of guns and ammunition was found in the boot of Irvine’s car, a judge was told.

Prosecutors provided the update as a second man accused in connection with the seizure in Belfast earlier this month mounted an application for bail.

Robin Workman, of Shore Road in Larne, Co Antrim, is charged with possessing a firearm and ammunition in suspicious circumstances, possessing a prohibited firearm, possession of a handgun without a certificate and having ammunition without a certificate.

.       Assistant Chief Constable Bobby                      Singleton (Image: PSNI) 

The 51-year-old self-employed joiner allegedly transported the haul of guns to a meeting with Irvine in the Glencairn area of North Belfast on June 8.

Police claim Workman pulled up and retrieved an item from his van during an interaction between the two suspects.

Irvine’s car was then stopped in Disraeli Street where officers discovered two suspected pistols, an air gun, magazines and more than 200 rounds of ammunition in a leather Calvin Klein holdall inside a plastic shopping bag in the boot.

He denied knowing anything about the contents of the bag.

Irvine, from the Ballysillan area of Belfast, is currently in custody on the same firearms charges.

His lawyer has described him as a “renowned peace builder” who believed he was taking the items from one person to “an honest broker on the other side”.

It was previously suggested that he had been in telephone contact with ACC Singleton on July 7, the day before his car was stopped, as part of efforts to help out weapons beyond use.

In court today prosecution counsel said: “Mr Irvine did provide a prepared statement to say that he did work as an interlocutor, and he stated that by arrangement he had instructions to attend specific locations, including Disraeli Street, and he had previously been involved in the decommissioning of weapons.

“But he did not go so far in his prepared statement to say that was the precise purpose for his attendance at this time.”

She also provided a response from the senior PSNI officer to the purported contact.

“ACC Singleton has confirmed there was no telephone call between Mr Irvine and himself,” the barrister said.

“They did not speak on the phone on the 7th [of June] nor has he ever had any conversation in relation to the decommissioning of weapons with Mr Irvine.”

Workman was also arrested on June 8 after he attended a hospital appointment in Ballymena, Co Antrim.

Based on CCTV and forensic evidence, detectives believe he was the driver of the van involved in the exchange with Irvine.

His DNA is a potential contributor to a mixed profile found on the handle of the leather holdall, the court heard.

Opposing his release, the prosecutor contended: “What was recovered has all the hallmarks of a criminal organisation with ammunition and weapons at its disposal which look terrifyingly authentic.

A UVF jumper and magazine, paramilitary banner and books about weapons were also said to have been found at an address linked to Workman.

He denies being the driver of the van who took part in the alleged weapons handover.

Defence barrister Paul Bacon argued that CCTV footage of the incident was obscured, and stressed that his client was not picked out at an identification procedure.

“He is linked to this by a weak DNA hit on a moveable object, the handle of a bag,” Mr Bacon added.

Reserving judgment on the bail application, Mr Justice O’Hara said: “I want time to consider the submissions.”

With many thanks to: Belfast Live and Alan Erwin for the original publication. 

Follow these links to find out more on this story: UVF Call To Arms Over Protocol Doomsday Scenario

PSNI Chief denieds talks with Winston Irvine before arms fin