UDA murder plot trial hears accused 'asked about a gun'

One of four men accused of plotting to kill two former UDA leaders in Scotland allegedly asked a man if he could obtain a gun, a court has heard.

Former drug addict Blair Bell gave a statement to police in 2013 in which he said Paul Sands asked him about a gun.

But in a second interview he said he was not sure if Mr Sands, or another man who was present, had asked him.

Mr Sands, Anton Duffy, Martin Hughes, and John Gorman, deny plotting to kill Johnny Adair and Sam McCrory.

The High Court in Glasgow has already heard that Mr Adair and his best friend Mr McCrory were both former members of prohibited Loyalist terror organisations the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and its paramilitary wing the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF).

'Not sure'

They were involved in the Good Friday agreement in 1998 which brought peace to Northern Ireland, and both have been living in Ayrshire for a number of years.

The court heard that Mr Bell, 28, gave a statement to police in October 2013 in which he claimed to have given his friend Robert Telfer, in the company of Mr Sands, a lift to Asda in Prestwick, South Ayrshire.

During that drive he initially told police that: "Sands once asked me where I could get a gun, but I didn't entertain him."

In a second police interview Mr Bell claimed that he was not sure if it was Mr Sands or Mr Telfer who had mentioned guns.

In evidence, Mr Bell was asked by prosecutor Paul Kearney: "Who asked you to source a gun," and replied: "One of then - Robert Telfer or Paul Sands."

Mr Kearney asked: "What type of gun was it," and Mr Bell replied: "It was never mentioned."

The prosecutor then asked: "What was the gun for," and Mr Bell said: "It was never mentioned."

Defence QC Donald Findlay, representing Mr Sands, suggested to Mr Bell that the conversation about a gun never took place, but he denied this was the case.

Gambian dealers

When asked why people would think he knew how to source a gun, Mr Bell replied that he had boasted to a friend about being shown a gun by Gambian drug dealers in 2007.

He told the court that the Gambians were called Disco Dave, Mo and Sidu and claimed he had met them in a pub in Ayr.

Mr Bell told the court that he drove these three men between Glasgow and Ayr around 2007 and claimed that on one occasion they took him into their flat and there was a gun on the table.

He was asked how often he had discussed guns with the Gambians and replied: "Four or five times."

He said he had mentioned this to a friend and added: "I was boasting about it."

Mr Duffy, 39, Mr Hughes, 36, Mr Sands, 31, and Mr Gorman, 58, deny plotting to murder Mr Adair and Mr McCrory.

It is also claimed Mr Duffy and Mr Gorman were allegedly part of a plan to murder the governor of Barlinnie jail Derek McGill in a car bomb attack.

Three other men - Craig Convery, 37, Gary Convery, 34, and Gordon Brown, 29, - deny organised crime charges.

The trial before judge Lady Scott continues.