THE Sunday Life newspaper has responded to criticism by loyalist Jamie Bryson after publishing a picture of him with an "alleged underworld boss" at a band parade in east Belfast.
Mr Bryson hit out in a Twitter post at the newspaper's front page story on east Belfast loyalist Stephen Matthews attending a commemoration parade on Saturday for murdered UVF commander Robert 'Squeak Seymour'.
The Sunday Life also tweeted an image of Mr Matthews with Jamie Bryson at the parade for Mr Seymour, who was shot dead by the IRA in 1988.
Referring to the story, Mr Bryson said in a post: "Pathetic ‘journalism’ from Sunday Life creeping around taking photos of people at perfectly lawful band parades. When will they be taking photos of IRA terrorists at republican commemorations? Spoiler. They won’t."
The Sunday Life Twitter account responded with a reference to its coverage of the IRA commemoration event in south Armagh earlier this month.
"Our photographers cover IRA commemorations too, for example the recent south Armagh one," they tweeted.
"This story isn't about the commemoration though, it's about a rare public appearance from an alleged underworld boss."
In June 2022, Mr Matthews lost a High Court injunction and attempt to secure an anonymity order to stop the Sunday Life naming him as the alleged head of the East Belfast UVF.
Mr Matthews has consistently denied any links with the UVF or criminality.
