A self-confessed Ulster loyalist paramilitary and paid police informant has been sentenced to more than six years in jail for terrorist offences, including five murders.

Gary “Cowhead” Haggarty was originally sentenced to 35 years but had his jail time reduced due to his cooperation with police.

He was a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force’s notorious Mount Vernon unit in north Belfast.

The “supergrass” turned against his former comrades by becoming a state witness in 2009. Haggarty provided information about 55 UVF murders and 20 attempted murders.

His testimonies were based on more than 1,000 interviews with detectives in Northern Ireland.

However, only one man has been jailed as a result of Haggarty’s evidence. Others in the UVF who he named will not face prosecution because the state ruled it did not have enough additional evidence to charge them.

The crimes Haggarty faced prosecution over included the sectarian killing of workers Eamon Fox and Gary Convie.

The two Catholic men were murdered at a building site in the loyalist end of North Queen Street in north Belfast in May 1994, just a few months before the Ulster loyalist terror groups declared a ceasefire.

Haggarty, who is in his mid-40s, had pleaded guilty to the 202 terrorism-related charges, including five murders.

He has previously been given five life sentences, but these will be significantly reduced given that he is agreed to become an “assisting offender” under the terms of the Serious Organised Crime Police Act.



Under sections 71-75 of this legislation, the Public Prosecution Service says a framework is provided “for agreements to be made with offenders who have offered to assist the investigation or prosecution of offences committed by others. This can include considering a formal agreement under which an offender is willing to assist with a view to obtaining a reduced sentence.”



An investigation into the activities of Haggarty and the Mount Vernon UVF by former police ombudsman for Northern Ireland, Lady Nuala O’Loan, found that he was working as a special branch informant inside the organisation even while he was involved in murders, so-called punishment beatings and bomb attacks.



The north Belfast loyalist turned police agent has been living at a secret location in England for the last seven years. In that time, Haggarty, who was known to his associates as “Cowhead”, has completed a computer science degree.







