Prominent loyalist activist Jamie Bryson breached a traffic signal fearing he was being followed and an attack was imminent, a court has heard.
While the 34-year-old told District Judge Francis Rafferty he accepted running a red light on 12 September last year, he said he had a “reasonable excuse” defence, emphasising at the time the PSNI had told him he was under a verifiable death threat.
Giving evidence to Newtownards Magistrates Court on Tuesday, Mr Bryson also said a man who had made repeated threats against him and whom the police believed “had ready access to guns” was on the run.
A prosecuting lawyer told DJ Rafferty how the defendant’s Audi Q2 breached the traffic light at the junction of York Link and Nelson Street.
Mr Bryson said as he drove towards Belfast he noticed a car with tinted windows behind him, which had “made a number of attempts to get around me, but then came back in behind me”.
“As I approached the lights I manoeuvred my car across over two lanes as I believed that this car was going to come up alongside me and potentially carry out some form of attack on me,” Mr Bryson explained.
He said he had been “subject to death threats from drug dealers and drug gangs” and been warned by police there was a verifiable threat on his life.
Under cross-examination the prosecutor asked why he had failed to note the registration plate.
Mr Bryson said he would have if the car followed him through the red light.
Judge Rafferty said while he found it “incredible” Mr Bryson did not call the police when he feared he was being followed, “nevertheless I’m required to be satisfied to the criminal standard and in the circumstances, I cannot be so satisfied, so I’m marking the matter dismissed”.