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Belfast bonfire builder has conviction for stealing pallets

Macauley McKinney spoke on BBC Newsline to defend blocking a public car park with a loyalist bonfire
Macauley McKinney spoke on BBC Newsline to defend blocking a public car park with a loyalist bonfire Macauley McKinney spoke on BBC Newsline to defend blocking a public car park with a loyalist bonfire

A BELFAST bonfire collector who defended a loyalist pyre being built in a public car park has a conviction for stealing pallets.

Macauley McKinney (21) was fined in 2015 for stealing pallets for a pyre on the Beersbridge Road. He was also convicted in the same year of stealing wreaths from a republican memorial on the Falls Road.

McKinney was interviewed on BBC Newsline earlier this week about the bonfire being built in a car park at Bloomfield Walkway in east Belfast.

The site on the Upper Newtownards Road has been at the centre of controversy over Belfast City Council storing thousands of pallets for bonfire builders.

Some 2,500 pallets were held for the Walkway area and around 300 for a pyre near a city centre hotel – and were due to be returned before the Eleventh Night.

The Walkway pallets were being stored on council land in the Gransha Road area, but were stolen last week – prompting a police investigation.

It has been suggested the UDA removed the pallets, fearing the council would not return them after The Irish News revealed the controversial arrangement.

Macauley McKinney (21) told the BBC they felt "let down" by the council.

"We had an agreement with the council that they were going to store the pallets in a safe place and now because the agreement was broke we've just thought well, they've let us down so we'll let them ones down," he said.

"This bonfire has been here for many years and the whole community like it here. It's not going to get moved. Nothing's coming away or stopping us from putting it here."

In 2015 a towering 50ft bonfire built nearby led to several families being forced from their homes.

Asked about safety concerns for householders, McKinney, who did a work placement with the Fire Service, said: "The fire brigade will always be on standby.

"They were last year so they're always there because they know what the risks are, but we can't get the blame of it because the council had the agreement, and it's part of our culture."

In 2013 he was pictured wearing firefighter gear in a post on Twitter by the organisation Alternatives Restorative Justice.

The group tweeted: "A big well done to Macauley McKinney from East for participating in work experience with @NIFRSOFFICIAL [Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service]! Very proud!"

It's believed this may have been part a community scheme aimed at giving young people a better insight into the job of a firefighter.

In July 2015 he was one of four bonfire builders who pleaded guilty to stealing £60 worth of pallets from Consumable Products Ltd on the Newtownards Road in March that year.

He was referred to when he appeared in court as George Macauley-McKinney, from Roslyn Street.

The four young east Belfast men were each fined £75.

A prosecuting lawyer told the Newtownards Magistrates Court how police were called to the business premises in the early hours after men were spotted loading blue wooden pallets into a van.

When officers arrived, the van was already "half full" of pallets and one man was arrested.

The lawyer said the other three defendants, including McKinney, were found hiding under bushes in a nearby garden.

McKinney told police they had been collecting pallets "all day" which were to be burnt on a bonfire on Beersbridge Road.

Defence lawyers for the four said while it initially appeared to be a burglary gang, it was actually "unsophisticated" and "fairly amateurish".

District Judge Des Perry also imposed a £15 offender levy for each man, but he advised them: "Next year, get your pallets legally."

It has also emerged that he was given a four month suspended sentence in 2015 for stealing a wreath from a Sinn Féin memorial.

Belfast Magistrates Court heard how it was in “revenge” for a suspected attack on a loyalist memorial site.

McKinney was told he could have started a riot over his part in a suspected group raid carried out in west Belfast.

McKinney pleaded guilty to the theft carried out in the early hours of March 7.

Belfast Magistrates Court heard he was arrested after police stopped a car near the scene of the crime on Hugo Street.

Two other men and a 17-year-old youth were said to be in the vehicle with him.

They faced the same charge of stealing two wreaths of unknown value belonging to Sinn Féin.