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GAA coach says loyalist death threats led him to VAT fraud

Gerry Moane talks for the first time after his conviction for VAT fraud. Picture by Cliff Donaldson
Gerry Moane talks for the first time after his conviction for VAT fraud. Picture by Cliff Donaldson Gerry Moane talks for the first time after his conviction for VAT fraud. Picture by Cliff Donaldson

A LEADING GAA figure has spoken of his "living nightmare" amid claims loyalist paramilitaries forced him to pay 'protection money' by committing VAT fraud.

Gerry Moane, from near Brookeborough in Co Fermanagh, ran a successful agricultural contracting business and was known as a highly respected senior football coach.

But last year the GAA community was left in shock when he was jailed for VAT fraud worth £766,000.

The court heard he claimed he had been under threat from loyalist paramilitaries.

However, Mr Moane pleaded guilty and did not contest the charges on the grounds that he was acting under duress.

He was sentenced to 16 months in prison and was released with remission some weeks ago.

Speaking publicly for the first time, Mr Moane reveals his account of how he ended up behind bars.

He says he was preparing to fight the charges until loyalist gangsters held him at gunpoint after a GAA club meeting – threatening to kill him if he spoke out in court.

The father-of-six said the ordeal has left his family in “financial ruin”.

"You're living a nightmare. You're just living a nightmare you think is never going to end,” he said.

Mr Moane claimed he was first approached working on a construction site in a loyalist community in the border area around Newry and south Armagh, when loyalists came to him demanding "protection money".

"There was no option but to pay up,” he said.

"I couldn't believe it because it was all new to me but then I approached the men I was working for and they said it was an unwritten rule – they allowed in their pricing that a certain percentage had to be put over.

"It started off between £500 and £1,000. Eventually I ended up with invoices. Instead of cash they handed over invoices and you claimed the VAT from them.”

"It just became bigger amounts. It went from hundreds to thousands. It just got colossal – they pushed the boat out altogether,” he said.

"It got to a point where there was no way out and they started threatening me. The threats got worse and then they started threatening my family."

In 2010 Mr Moane said he began refusing the invoices but was further pressurised when the gang was able to pinpoint where his children worked and socialised.

Mr Moane believes he was targeted because the racketeers were able to use his GAA profile to find out information about him and use it against him.

"It continued on through the summer, I was threatened and I refused. I kept refusing,” he said.

But matters became more serious when he was attacked in his farmyard close to his home in November 2010.

Mr Moane said he was badly injured when three masked men knocked him from the roof of a byre he was fixing.

He said he was lucky to be alive after falling 30ft onto tin sheets on the ground below.

"There was a scuffle on the roof. The only thing that saved my life is that there was tin down below. If it wasn't for that I wouldn't be alive,” he said.

"I remember crawling out and the blood running off me. I went through the back door all blood – it was pandemonium.”

He was treated in hospital in Enniskillen for back and neck injuries.

"I still have a scar on my back from the tin. The mental scars are still there too,” he said.

Mr Moane said it “came as a relief to some degree” when he was arrested at his home in 2012.

He was taken to Dungannon PSNI station while police and customs officers raided the property, removing computers and paperwork.

He said it was "devastating" particularly with his children asking questions. Insisting his innocence, he pointed out that he had no expensive cars or other trappings of wealth that such vast sums of money would have brought.

Mr Moane said he was preparing to fight the case in court until he was threatened at gunpoint following an initial court appearance.

He said he was driving home after attending a Brookeborough GAA club meeting when a blue Transit van swerved in front of him and three men approached and threatened him with a gun.

"I thought this is me gone. The gun came through the window. I was told, 'you were in court this morning. If you name names or talk, when we come back we will be taking you out.’

Mr Moane said after meeting his legal team he decided not to contest the charges, fearing retribution on his family.

In September last year Mr Moane pleaded guilty to 21 charges of submitting false returns and one of acquiring criminal property.

At Dungannon Crown Court his defence mentioned in mitigation that he had come under pressure from loyalist paramilitaries.

References from parties supporting him, including one from Fr Brian D’Arcy, were read out during the case.

But because Mr Moane was not prepared to give evidence, Judge Gemma Loughran said she could not accept his claims.

"To plead guilty was one of the most horrendous things I have ever had to endure,” he said.

"There is nothing compared to knowing you can't defend yourself.

"It's like going into a boxing ring with one hand tied behind your back.

"And you can't tell the truth because if you do, you know the consequences are death – that's the reality."

Newspaper reports have claimed the gang responsible is led by a well-known loyalist figure in the border area and while it uses the name UVF has no direct links to that organisation. It has also been suggested that the gang has close links to border area republicans operating under the name INLA.

Mr Moane added: "People say 'why didn't you go to the PSNI' but it's you and your family that are at risk here.

"I'm not criticising the PSNI but there is very little they can do about it.”

Since leaving prison some months ago he has been helping with his son’s farming work.

“It’s difficult. You get labelled being in jail, but people have been very good to us since I came out,” he said.

“We are in financial ruin because I haven’t been fit to work much. I can’t go back to what I was doing.”