A CHARGE of plotting to kill political commentator and Irish News columnist Brian Feeney is among more than 300 offences which will be 'Taken Into Consideration' when loyalist supergrass Gary Haggarty is sentenced.
The Irish News has seen the list of charges, which also include possession of hundreds of weapons, including AK47 assault rifles, shotguns, handguns and an Uzi sub machine gun.
Mr Feeney has revealed that police only informed him he had been under threat from an informer-led UVF gang more than 20 years after loyalists tried to kill him.
Mr Feeney was among several figures accused of being part of a 'pan-nationalist front' who were targeted by loyalists at the time.
He started working for The Irish News as a columnist in 1993 after leaving politics as an SDLP councillor.
Haggarty is formally accused of more than 200 offences committed over 16 years in the Mount Vernon UVF in north Belfast, headed up at the time by Special Branch informer Mark Haddock, who is currently serving a jail term in England.
In return for a reduced sentence he has agreed to give evidence against his former associates in what could be the biggest 'supergrass' trial in Northern Ireland's history.
Haggarty admitted during extensive debriefs that the paramilitary group was plotting to kill Mr Feeney between January 1993 and January 1995.
During that time the UVF was collecting information linked to the Irish News columnist's home address in north Belfast and his daily routine.
But despite admitting trying to kill the former SDLP councillor, the charge will only be 'Taken Into Consideration' (TIC) along with 300 other offences when he faces justice.
During the early 1990s Mr Feeney was among several nationalist political representatives targeted by loyalist paramilitaries who accused them of being part of a 'pan nationalist front'.
However, despite living close to the Mount Vernon estate, and being subjected to two attempts on his life, police did not inform him of a plot until 20 years later.
"I knew the UDA were trying to kill me at that time because they phoned me up and told me they were going to kill me and then bombed my house, but was never told about the UVF," he said.
"The first bomb attempt was fairly amateur but the second was an undercar device and was much more sophisticated - I wonder now was that the work of the UVF.
"It was 23 years ago and I'm still here to talk about so there's no point in doing anything about it now, but I would like to have been told at the time.
"The RUC should have known given they were running informers in the UVF at the time and they should have told me.
"I most certainly would have taken precautions. Threats at that time were to be taken very seriously - a number of SDLP councillors had already been targeted."
The outspoken commentator said he only became aware of Haggary's admissions last year when he received a letter from the PSNI just days before a Spotlight programme about the Mount Vernon gang.
"The letter from an inspector came one weekend, I think on a Saturday, and the Spotlight was shown that Tuesday. They might have thought it was going to come out and decided to tell me first or it may just have been a coincidence.
"It's all history now, I'm just glad I'm still here to talk about it."
