Shoukri pals confident of parole vote
Former North Belfast UDA leader Andre Shoukri has been cleared for parole release by the Prison Service.
Shoukri’s sidekick John ‘Bonzer’ Boreland has already been allowed a 48-hour parole from Maghaberry Prison where he’s serving a nine-year sentence for blackmail, intimidation and the possession of an imitation or real firearm.
Boreland, from north Belfast, was released for 48 hours last month and spent most of his time in the Newtownabbey area where he has friends.
He was jailed at the same time as Shoukri and the Northern Ireland Office approved his parole in early September.
Shoukri has already met members of the Probation Board in jail and friends say approval has been given for his inclusion on the pre-release scheme subject to NIO consent.
He won’t be facing any disciplinary charges following an altercation in Maghaberry in September when he was attacked in his cell.
West Belfast criminal Gerard Donegan cut him on the shoulder with a broken pool cue before Shoukri rounded on him and chased him from his cell.
Shoukri was taken to the prison’s Special Segregation Unit for his own protection because of fears that there was a plot to kill him in jail before he completes his nine-year sentence.
However, he is now back in the mainstream part of the jail.
“No complaint has been made against him,” a Prison Service source said.
