Loyalist killer Torrens Knight is to appeal against his conviction for assaulting two sisters in a bar room attack in Northern Ireland, his solicitor said tonight.
The terrorist assassin faces being returned to jail to resume 12 life sentences for murders carried out during the Troubles after he was found guilty of beating up the women, in Coleraine Magistrates Court yesterday.
Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward is considering whether the fresh convictions are grounds to revoke his early release licence and is expected to announce his decision next week.
Knight’s lawyer Denise Gillen said her client would be appealing against the decision of District Judge Austin Kennedy.
She said the legal bid had to wait until Mr Kennedy passed sentence on the two aggravated assault and one disorderly behaviour convictions on November 27th.
“He will definitely be lodging an appeal once the sentencing hearing has taken place,” she said.
Knight (40) was convicted of 12 terrorist murders in the troubles, including those of eight people in the infamous Greysteel massacre.
He was a member of the Ulster Freedom Fighters gang that burst into the Rising Sun bar in the County Derry village on Halloween in 1993 and opened fire.
The killings are always associated with the chilling “trick or treat” phrase shouted by one of the gunmen before they started shooting.
Knight, from Ashdale, Coleraine, was also convicted of the murders of four Catholic builders in the nearby town of Castlerock earlier that year.
Having only served seven years, he was released in 2000 as part of the terms of Belfast Agreement.
The judge yesterday found him guilty of punching Caroline Nicholl to the ground and kicking her before turning his fists on her sister Rosemary Sutherland inside the Blackthorn bar in Coleraine last May.
Mr Kennedy rejected his claim that he acted in self defence and only “lashed out” after Ms Sutherland threw the first punch.
Mr Woodward will have to assess whether Knight currently poses a threat to the public before deciding whether to return him to prison.
His decision will also have to be endorsed by the region’s Life Sentence Review Commissioners.
A spokeswoman for the Prison Service said: “The Secretary of State is aware of the court judgment and is considering if there are implications in relation to his release on licence under the 1998 Sentences Act.”
East Derry SDLP Assembly member John Dallat, who accompanied the sisters to court yesterday, has called for the early release licence to be rescinded as soon as possible.
He also expressed concern at the prospect of an appeal.
“It seems that these two very brave women will have to go through the whole harrowing experience of a court case again,” he said.
PA