Trevor Ringland has called upon the so-called “South East Antrim Brigade” of the UDA to “get off the backs of the people of Larne and Carrickfergus”. The NI Conservatives’ co-chair made his comments after the crime gang attacked homes and police officers in Larne.
“This group is completely unrepresentative of people in the area and it cannot be allowed to continue to terrorise them”, Trevor said. “This criminal element need to get off the backs of residents of Larne and Carrick. There are policing strategies which have been employed successfully for similar situations in other parts of Northern Ireland and the PSNI might need to look at the potential to roll these out in east Antrim, while all political parties should get behind any such action.”
“That means active attempts to prevent situations like these before they escalate and looking to recover assets which have been acquired by criminal means. With the attacks in Larne and a republican event celebrating violence, in a leisure centre in north Belfast, there are some worrying signs about the type of Northern Ireland we’re trying to build. It’s vitally important that young people are not encouraged into sectarianism or criminality.”