The wife of murdered UDA boss Tommy English was left with a fractured skull after a desperate struggle to prevent him being shot by a rival loyalist, a Belfast inquest heard today.
Mrs Doreen English said she tried to fight off the four man gang as they opened fire on her husband at their home in Newtownabbey on the northern outskirts of Belfast.
At one stage she heard one of the gang shout: "Come on back and finish the bastard," she said.
The 40-year-old prominent loyalist was gunned down in front of his wife on October 31st, 2000 in the middle of a bitter feud with the rival Ulster Volunteer Force, which claimed a total of seven lives.
He was murdered just seven hours after Bertie Rice (63) a member of the Progressive Unionist Party was shot dead in north Belfast.
His three children, twin boys aged nine and a girl aged seven were in the house as their father was shot.
Mrs English, who was struck about the head as she wrestled with the gang, described how one of the men pumped a last bullet into her husband who was lying face down in the hallway.
As one of the gunmen aimed his rifle, she managed to grab hold of the barrel, but his accomplice fired a final shot.
"I think there was a shot fired by the smaller gunman. The larger gunman hit me with his fist. I think the shot hit Tommy in the lower back, they then ran out the back door."
English, who had once led the UDA in the hardline loyalist Tiger's Bay area, died from injuries to his chest and abdomen.
The inquest heard he was shot a total of four times, three of the shots caused internal injuries, while the fourth grazed his skin.
PA