A former loyalist prisoner who recorded himself performing a sex act in his UDA leader cousin’s ice-cream shop has claimed to be the victim of blackmail.

A 30-second video of ex-UDA prisoner William ‘Billy’ Stitt pleasuring himself behind the counter of Fonzie’s Ice-cream Parlour on the Newtownards Road in east Belfast was uploaded onto YouTube on Friday.

It was removed a short time later, but not before being downloaded and shared between thousands of people.

The hugely popular Fonzie’s is part-owned by Bangor UDA boss Dee Stitt, who last night sacked his cousin Billy over his sleazy shop antics.

Dee Stitt said: “My sympathy is with the individual, but the engagement happened on my premises and that constitutes gross misconduct. He (Billy) has been sacked.”

In a telephone call to Sunday Life yesterday a sheepish Billy Stitt — who was jailed in the 1990s with Dee for attempted UDA robbery and weapons possession — claimed to be the victim of blackmail.

He said he was duped into performing the sex act by a female member of a foreign crime gang and had contacted the PSNI.

“I’m a victim of crime,” pleaded ice-cream man Billy, who denied Dee Stitt had anything to do with Fonzie’s, despite being listed as a director of its owner, DSWSTM Ltd.

Billy admitted that he was the man in the ice-cream shop sex video and conceded it was recorded in Fonzie’s, but added: “It’s not like that at all. It’s not what you think it is.”

When asked who was trying to blackmail him, Billy replied: “I don’t actually know. Because it’s coming from a foreign country we don’t actually know who it is.”

The former UDA jailbird confirmed it was a woman he was having cyber-sex with and that she was “well over age”.

He said: “I reported it to the police, I went to the police myself, I phoned them and told them what was going on.

“They were targeting my family and friends of mine, and asking for money as well. They were sort of trying to put pressure on me to hand money over.”

Billy says he has no idea how foreign criminals got hold of his ice-cream shop sex video, claiming: “They have been text messaging me threatening my life, saying ‘we’re going to kill you’ and this, that and the other. I phoned the police, so it’s in the hands of the police.”

In the 30-second sex video, Billy Stitt films himself walking around the Newtownards Road ice-cream parlour after closing time with a huge grin on his face.

Suddenly he exposes himself to the camera and begins caressing his genitals.

He was freed from prison in 1997 after serving half an eight year jail term for an attempted UDA robbery and possessing weapons.

Back in 2000 the loyalist appeared in a television documentary with his wife Sandra, talking about the difficulties in adapting to life after jail.

He is extremely close to his Bangor UDA boss cousin Dee Stitt, and like the bald terror thug is a member of the North Down Defenders Flute Band.

According to the Companies House website Dee Stitt is one of three directors of DSWSTM Ltd, which owns Fonzie’s Ice-cream Parlour.

Billy Stitt has worked in the shop since it opened earlier this year and is often seen behind the counter making ice-cream treats for customers.

Belfast Telegraph