A DUP member has been suspended from the party after he was charged by detectives investigating a pipe-bomb attack on the home of a Polish couple in Antrim.

John Smyth jnr is due to appear at Ballymena Magistrates Court today charged with a number of criminal offences.

He was a DUP election candidate in this year’s council election but failed to win a seat.

The 30-year-old is charged in connection with the security alert in the Seacash Drive area of Antrim on October 12. A pipe-bomb was discovered on the window sill of a Polish couple’s home on the Steeple estate.

Earlier in the week a loyalist group claimed responsibility for the attack, prompting the Progressive Unionist Party’s Ken Wilkinson to visit the family and apologise for what had happened.

Last night a DUP spokesman said: “Following the arrest of Mr John Smyth jnr, his membership of the Democratic Unionist Party has been suspended pending the outcome of a police investigation and to allow for due process to take its course.”