Winston Rea 'criticised Shankill Butchers' in Boston tapes

Winston Rea faces 19 charges dating back to 1973

Winston Rea believed loyalist leaders should have stopped the activities of the Shankill Butchers during the Troubles, his trial has heard.

Mr Rea, from Springwell Road, in Groomsport, County Down, faces 19 charges relating to offences allegedly committed between 1973 and 1996.

They include aiding and abetting the murders of two Catholics - John Devine in 1989 and John O'Hara in 1991 - as well as plotting to kill others.

The 69-year-old denies all charges.

The charges against Mr Rea are based on contributions the prosecution say he made to an oral history project at Boston College in the United States.

On Thursday, Belfast Crown Court played a taped interview with Interviewee L - the prosecution contends the interviewee is Mr Rea.

'You don't butcher them'

In the recording, Interviewee L is critical of the Shankill Butchers who were responsible for the sectarian murder of 19 people during the 1970s.

"My recollection is... at the time of the Shankill Butchers, the leadership should have moved in to prevent what was happening.

"But unfortunately they didn't," he said.

The interviewee stated he would "be upset" by such murders, adding that he believed "if you needed to kill someone, you did it as swift as possible".

"I don't want to sound callous," the interviewee said, before adding: "But you put a gun to the back of his head and you blow their brains out... you don't butcher them."

Interviewee L also said that others in loyalism, some of whom had committed "awful crimes", were also against the killings.

The trial continues on Monday.