Loyalists killed teenager, inquest hears
Rival loyalist paramilitary organisations may have joined forces to brutally murder a Catholic teenager in the North, an inquest heard today.
The two-man motorcycle team who killed Ciaran Cummings, 19, also carried out a trial run 24 hours before he was gunned down, a witness revealed.
Even though no-one has been convicted of the welder’s shooting near his home in Antrim in July 2001, the detective heading the inquiry confirmed a new review of all evidence is to be carried out.
Mr Cummings was blasted twice with a sawn-off shotgun as he waited for a lift to work at the town’s Greystone Road roundabout.
He tried to flee after being hit by the first bullet, only for a pillion passenger clad in black leathers and white helmet to get off the bike and chase him down.
After he stumbled and fell the gunman pinned him down with his feet and fired again at his head from point-blank range.
Detective Chief Inspector Frankie Taylor told Belfast Coroner’s Court: “It was absolutely brutal.”
Mr Taylor confirmed that police believe loyalist paramilitaries carried out the purely sectarian murder.
He also disclosed that four separate claims of responsibility were made after the shooting – a demonstration of the fragmented and overlapping nature of Protestant terrorist factions.
Two came from the Red Hand Defenders, a cover name sometimes used by the Ulster Freedom Fighters, another by the Orange Volunteers, while a fourth from the Loyalist Volunteer Force denied any involvement but blamed the rival Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) – supposedly under a ceasefire at the time.
Questioned by Coroner John Leckey, the detective said it was unusual for such widespread attribution.
He added: “It indicates to me that there was perhaps one, maybe two organisations involved.
“Perhaps one organisation carried it out with the logistical support of another.
“It would be my assessment that the Red Hand Defenders were involved. They would have had support from the mainstream UVF.”
