Teenagers 'killed in row over UVF chief'

22/11/2005 - 12:37:08
Two teenagers were stabbed to death after falling out with drinking partners in a row over a murdered loyalist paramilitary boss, a court heard today.

Andrew Robb, 19, and David McIlwaine, 18, were bundled into a car, driven off and attacked so ferociously, possibly with boning knives, that they were almost decapitated, the Northern Ireland High Court was told.

One of the men charged with their murders consulted a clergyman and handed himself over to police after watching a television reconstruction.

Another of those suspected of being part of the gang who slashed the young victims and dumped their bodies on a country roadside in Tandragee, Co Armagh, in February 2000 had since committed suicide, it has emerged.

But after Mark Burcombe, 25, became the second man accused of the killings which horrified the public, details of the events leading up to their deaths were disclosed for the first time.

As the stonemason from Ballynahinch Road in Lisburn, Co Antrim, applied for bail, the Crown said he had told police he was present on the night of the murders but denies direct involvement.

Burcombe said he was at the home of Steven Brown, also known as Steven Revels, with the victims and a fifth man, Noel Dillon.

Barrister David Hopley said: “At about 3am on the Saturday, February 19, Andrew Robb is alleged by these men to have made some disparaging remarks about a Richard Jameson, who would be a known UVF commander.”

Weeks earlier, Jameson, one of the Ulster Volunteer Force’s leaders in the mid-Ulster area, was shot dead outside his home in Portadown, Co Armagh, at the height of a terrorist feud with the rival Loyalist Volunteer Force.

After Mr Robb allegedly rubbished the dead man, Mr Hopley told the court: “Steven Brown/Revels shouts ‘F*ck the LVF’.

“This seems to have motivated Burcombe, Dillon and Brown to take Robb and McIlwaine in a car and then murder them.”

All three suspects were believed by police to be members of the UVF, the court was told.

They allegedly took the two victims from the house in a Peugeot car which stopped outside Dillon’s flat, where he collected an undisclosed item, Mr Hopley said.

“Brown and Dillon worked in a meat plant as boners and it may have been some sort of boning knife,” he added.

According to Burcombe, Andrew Robb was taken away by the pair and his body later found.

“He says that Steven Brown then attacked David McIlwaine in his presence,” the barrister told the court.

“He was beaten and kicked and stamped and then Noel Dillon appears and stabs the deceased David McIlwaine.

“He attempted to cut his head off with a slicing motion to the side of the neck.

“This applicant then gets back into Brown’s vehicle and they are about to leave the scene when they hear David McIlwaine make a wheezing sound.

“He sees Brown exit the car and stab him repeatedly.”

Burcombe, whose wife and five-month-old child were both in court, was questioned about the murders later that year but denied any involvement or knowledge of the stabbings, the court was told.

He later left Northern Ireland and moved to England where he lived for a period of time before returning.

“The situation is clearly there’s involvement in this murder which has yet to be finalised,” Mr Hopley claimed.

“He has admitted some involvement but distanced himself from the actual murders.”

With Brown, 25, of Castleplace, Castlecaufield in Co Tyrone, also charged with the killings, the barrister said Dillon had committed suicide some time ago.

Opposing bail, he outlined his fear that Burcombe might again quit Northern Ireland.

“These were cruel and vicious murders and those responsible clearly have a propensity for violence using knives in the way they did,” he added.

“There are ongoing police inquiries into paramilitary links with the UVF and there are concerns in that regard.”

But Terence McDonald, QC for the defence, said that while Burcombe accepted his presence on the night of the murders, he stressed that the only evidence against him had been provided by the accused.

In a reference to the BBC Crimewatch show, which staged a reconstruction earlier this month, the lawyer said: “This accused, after having watched a programme on television, decided through a certain route, namely an approach to a church leader, that he would wish to present himself to the police to acknowledge he had information which was relevant to the murders of Mr Robb and Mr McIlwaine.”

Mr McDonald argued that Burcombe would not have gone to the police if he planned to flee Northern Ireland before any trial.

The lawyer also told the court that his client was prepared to hand over his passport and pointed out that the Crown had not accused him of being an active member of any paramilitary organisation.

Despite his appeal, Mr Justice Girvan refused to grant bail because of the gravity of the charges facing Burcombe.

“He denies involvement in the actual act of killing the individuals who died in horrendous circumstances but he clearly was at the scene of the crime,” the judge said.

“He appears to have travelled in the car with the victims to the place they were taken.

“Following this, he made no attempt to report what was an appalling crime... and appears to have denied any knowledge in any aspect of the murders.”

Mr Justice Girvan added: “The degree of violence at the scene and the fact that this appears to have been part of an internecine war between loyalist paramilitaries... points to a propensity to violence of an extreme nature.

“There is also a risk of him not turning up for trial.”