Alleged UDA boss Price loses bonfire freedom bid

Details of the incident in Newtownards emerged at the High Court on Friday as Price sought to have his bail terms varied to attend a bonfire in the town.

Objecting to the application, a Crown barrister told Mr Justice Mark Horner the man was brought to Weaver’s Grange for the “settling of a bill” where he was battered with the bat.

The 51-year-old is accused of disposing of the weapon, which was also used to smash a car windscreen during the same incident.

A co-accused, William Albert Joseph McCabe (41), appeared before the same court on the same charges and also sought to have his bail terms changed to attend an Eleventh Night event in Bangor.

The barrister said police believe Price is in a “command position” of the South East Antrim UDA’s faction based in Newtownards.

She said officers also allege that McCabe is involved in the same paramilitary unit.

Price is alleged to have pushed officers who arrived at the scene of the attack before snatching up the bat and getting rid of it.

The lawyer added police believe a gun may have been fired during the incident which attracted a large group of people.

She told the court Price has 118 previous convictions, one of which was for withholding information of the murder of UDA rival Colin Horner in Bangor in 2017.

Price’s barrister said when he was initially granted bail in the case earlier this year the prospect of going to an Eleventh Night event wasn’t thought of when the terms were set.

He added that when Price was charged over the murder of Horner he spent two years on bail and understands the consequences of breaching bail.

McCabe’s barrister told the court he denies the charges and was only seeking an extension of four hours of his curfew on the Eleventh Night to attend a community street festival in Bangor.

Refusing the application, Judge Horner said there was evidence the pair were involved in serious offences linked to paramilitary activity.

Price, of Bristol Park in Newtownards, and McCabe, of Weavers Grange in the town, are due to appear again at Ards Magistrates’ Court on July 20.

In 2019, Price was given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, for his role in the gangland murder of UDA man Horner. A charge of murder was left on the books.

The 35-year-old was gunned down in the car park of a Sainsbury’s supermarket in front of his tree-year-old son Oscar.

Horner was executed by the South East Antrim UDA because of his links to its deposed ex-Carrickfergus commander Geordie Gilmore, who was shot dead by the terror gang in March 2017.

Like his murdered pal, Horner was also a member of the organisation but fell foul of it in 2015 when he was accused of beating up a woman.

Alan James Wilson, Joseph Blair, Robert Ralph, and Ryan Graham Smyth were jailed for a total of 60 years for the Horner killing at Belfast Crown Court.

Wilson (30), of North Green, Newtownards, and Bangor man Smyth (31) of Windsor Gardens were given a minimum of 16 years each.

Blair (35), of Shackleton Walk, Newtownards, was given 15 years, while Ralph (47), of Donaghadee Road, also in Newtownards, received 15 years and six months.