An east Belfast man who arranged for UDA thugs to give a man "a digging" in September last year was jailed for seven years yesterday by Belfast Crown Court.
Jailing Thomas Mathieson (19), of Mersey Street, Judge James Brady said that but for his guilty plea to a "ferocious and savage beating by thugs wielding iron bars", he would have received a substantial prison term.
Mr Stephen Fowler, prosecuting, said that after the attack police uncovered more than 100 bullets in Mathieson's bedroom. Mathieson later admitted he approached a UDA commander "to sort the man out" following a drunken argument over a bike.
Mr Terence McDonald QC, defending, said Mathieson had foolishly agreed to keep ammunition for an organisation and in turn asked that it did something for him.