Belfast loyalists jailed for extortion

Two Belfast loyalists have each been jailed for six years after admitting attempting to blackmail an undercover policeman.

David Coleman, 21, from Hopewell Crescent and William McClean, 45 from Hopewell Place, offered “security” for £5,000 to a firm which had been subject to vandalism and thefts.

The men told the policeman, who they thought was a builder, they were from the UDA.

McClean approached staff at the building estate in east Belfast in 2005. However, the offer had been ignored.

Two weeks later he came back with Coleman and left a mobile number to contact them on so they could “sort the matter out”.

After the threats were ignored, the men returned a week later and Mr McClean told the site foreman if the money was not paid, “the existing security would be put off the site”.

When they arrived at the site they claimed to be from the UDA, left with the money, but were arrested by police who were nearby.

Sentencing them, the judge ordered Coleman and McClean to serve a further 18 months and one year respectively.

The pair claimed they had been put under pressure to become involved by "sinister" elements because they owed debts.

(JM/SP)