Loyalist jailed for attack over UVF flags

A man was jailed for three years at Belfast Crown Court for causing grievous bodily harm to another man in a brutal assault during…

A man was jailed for three years at Belfast Crown Court for causing grievous bodily harm to another man in a brutal assault during a row over UVF flags.

Philip Robert Harrison (26) from Hillside Park, Banbridge, Co Down pleaded guilty to the charge when he was on trial last month with two of the Poyntzpass killers for the same offence.

Stephen McClean (32) also of Hillside Park, Banbridge, and 34-year-old Noel McCready from Dickson Park, Seapatrick, who had been jailed for life in February last year, were acquitted earlier this month of causing grievous bodily harm.

At the time of the incident in July last year they were out of prison on parole prior to their expected release under the Belfast Agreement.

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A lawyer for Harrison said today his client had hit the victim only once on the body with a flagpole, and the incident was not planned or premeditated.

Jailing Harrison for three years Mr Justice Girvan said he was prepared to accept the defendant's role might have been more limited than others, and that he might not have been prepared for the degree of viciousness shown by others.