Man remanded over Mount Vernon murder
A former associate of high-profile loyalist Mark Haddock has been remanded in custody charged with the murder of a taxi driver 12 years ago.
Gary Haggarty, 37, is accused of involvement in the killing of John Harbinson in north Belfast in May 1997.
Mr Harbinson, 39, was handcuffed and beaten to death by an Ulster Volunteer Force gang in the Mount Vernon estate.
Haggarty, of no fixed address, was arrested by detectives from the Historical Enquires Team, a specialist unit set up to reinvestigate unsolved terrorist murders.
He appeared by Belfast Magistrates Court without legal representation but confirmed he understood the charge and his entitlement to a lawyer.
Dressed in a checked shirt and jeans, Haggarty told the court he would not be seeking bail.
After a detective said he could connect him with the offence he was remanded in custody to appear again via video link next month.
As the accused was leaving the dock District Judge Fiona Bagnall advised him to seek legal help.
“These are very serious matters, the most serious possible,” she told him.
Haggarty’s one-time associate Haddock, 40, is also charged with carrying out the murder on the estate where he is alleged to have once ran a notorious terror gang.
Haddock, suspected by many to have been a paid Special Branch agent, was arrested last month in prison while on remand accused of the separate killing of rival Ulster Defence Association leader Tommy English in October 2000.
The new charges were brought as part of the ongoing Operation Ballast, an investigation led by officers from the HET.
It was established following former Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan’s report into claims of collusion between RUC officers and UVF members in Mount Vernon.
