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Loyalist mob to be sentenced next week after lesser pleas A

POLICE officer stood over Coleraine attack victim Damien Fleming and screamed at a loyalist mob to "stay back", Belfast Crown Court has heard.

Twelve men convicted in connection with the attack on Mr Fleming and his friend Kevin McDaid (49) in the Heights area of the town five years ago will be sentenced next Tuesday after a hearing yesterday.

Ten of the men had originally been charged with Mr McDaid's manslaughter and the attempted murder of Mr Fleming but pleaded guilty to a range of lesser offences and were prosecuted on the basis of joint enterprise while two were acquitted and a further two face charges relating to a separate incident.

The court heard yesterday that the police officer had drawn his baton and gone running towards "a body on the ground", which turned out to be Mr Fleming.

The officer said he saw one man wearing a Rangers top "swinging his boot and connecting" with the side of Mr Fleming's head and as another struck the 46-year-old with a weapon which created a "sickening sound".

A second officer drew his gun and shouted at a man he saw carrying a pickaxe handle or cudgel.

The officer witnessed the person raise the weapon "and bring it down" on Mr Fleming's head "who appeared unconscious", according to the prosecution.

The policeman grabbed the man but several others put themselves between the officer and the attacker and he lost his grip and the men ran off.

There were around 40 men in the Pate's Lane area of the Heights during the attack and the court heard loyalists had made their way there from Scott's bar in the town by foot and by taxi determined to take down tricolour and Celtic flags.

The mob had earlier watched Rangers win the Scottish Premier-ship title.

The prosecution said Mr Fleming and Mr McDaid "were beaten and kicked and stepped upon" in a sectarian attack that had to an extent been planned.

The court heard that "a clump of skin and hair" and blood belonging to Mr Fleming was found on a broken stair spindle that had been used to beat him.

The prosecution said Mr Fleming had suffered "a vicious attack" and was "beaten with fists and weapons" about his head and body "and left in a terrible state on the pavement".

He suffered "life-threatening" injuries and had a heart attack in hospital but medics performed resuscitation and heart massage and restarted his heart.

His "massive facial injuries" including a broken jaw and a "massive laceration to the left side of his head that was bleeding profusely" and caused him to lose six of the 13 litres of blood in his body.

In a statement to the court his sister said he was unrecognisable and the family did not believe he would survive.

Meanwhile, a postmortem examination showed Mr McDaid suffered from "severe underlying heart dis-ease" and could have suffered a fatal heart attack at any time.

He also had "bands of tram line bruising" on his back which suggested "multiple blows from a rod" probably while he lay face down after collapsing.

The prosecution said an expert had concluded it was "not possible to establish a definite causal link between the heart attack and the assault".

The prosecution said there were "clear medical issues in proving causation in respect of Mr McDaid" and it was on those grounds that guilty pleas to a lesser charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm had been accepted.

Witnesses described hearing shouts of "We're the UDA" and threats to "kick some Fenian heads".

In her victim impact statement Mr McDaid's widow Evelyn, who was also attacked, referred to "vicious hatred and violence" displayed.

When lawyers expressed their clients' remorse and regret for their involvement the McDaid family left the court.

Two other Coleraine men, Johnathon Stirling (25) of Windyhall Park and John Freeman, were convicted of charges relating to a witness of the original attack.

* VICTIM OF MOB ATTACK: Kevin McDaid who died after a sectarian attack at Somerset Drive in Coleraine after a gang of loyalists went into the area