One of 11 men charged with murdering loyalist leader Tommy English has received High Court permission to attend a religious ministry in England.

Philip Laffin, 31, was granted a bail variation to take part in a three-day course next month.

Laffin has already surrendered his passport and will travel to the gathering in Leicestershire by boat.

The men are charged in connection with the assassination of Mr English, a high-ranking UDA member.

The 40-year-old victim was gunned down in front of his wife at their home in Newtownabbey, near north Belfast, in 2000 during a violent feud with the rival UVF .

Laffin, of Bridge Street, Antrim, denies the charge against him, which is based on so-called supergrass evidence supplied by Newtownabbey brothers David and Robert Stewart.

Prison ministry

They have pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting in the murder, and made statements which allegedly implicate the other suspects.

During an earlier bail application the court was told that Laffin had found God, taken part in missionary work in Africa and been involved in Christian prison ministry.

But with the prosecution alleging that witnesses in the case have been subjected to intimidation, he was warned about his conduct before the variation was granted.

Mr Justice McLaughlin told him "threatening noises" had been made and said he was to be careful about who he contacted.

Meanwhile, another of the murder suspects, alleged police agent Mark Haddock, withdrew a planned High Court bail application.

Lawyers for Haddock, originally from the Mount Vernon area of Belfast, did not disclose why their client no longer wished to proceed.