The cannabis plants seized in Castlewellan

Police have arrested four people after two cannabis factories were discovered in Castlewellan.

The cannabis plants are believed to worth over £150,000.

DCI Ian Wilson said, "Officers carrying out proactive drugs searches at properties in the Circular Road and Corrywood Park areas yesterday uncovered two substantial cannabis factories."

Two 33-year-old men and a 22-year-old woman were detained in the Circular Road.

A 30-year-old man was also arrested in Corrywood Park.

All four remain in custody this morning and are assisting the police.

Missing person - James Wilson

Fears are growing for Armagh pensioner James Wilson after he went missing on Tuesday evening.

Mr Wilson, 81, was last seen near the Hamiltonsbawn Road.

He is around 6ft tall with grey hair and is of medium build.

Mr Wilson was wearing a blue tweed jacket, blue trousers, a white shirt and a striped tie.

Police have said the Mr Wilson is 'vulnerable'.

A security alert has been sparked after a suspected device was found under a car at a garage in Pennybridge Industrial Estate in Ballymena.

 Premises have been evacuated in the surrounding area and controlled explosions were carried out on the device.

Security alert ongoing at garage in Pennybridge Ind Est Ballymena after report suspicious object found under a car. Police & ATO at scene.

— PSNI Ballymena (@PSNIBallymena) November 19, 2014

It has been reported that the device was discovered by a mechanic when the car was lifted using a machine at the garage.

PSNI Chief Inspector Stephen McCauley said: "A number of premises have been evacuated in the area.

"ATO are currently at the scene and two controlled explosions have been carried out. There are no further details at this stage."

Miss Northern Ireland Rebekah Shirley

Rebekah Shirley

Miss World is a family affair for Rebekah Shirley.

The teenager heads for London next week to take on the global pageant, with her Ballymoney posse hot on her high heels.

Mum and dad Fiona and Dessie and boyfriend Michael Eardley will be among the 17 supporters cheering gorgeous Rebekah towards the top spot.

And she’ll have a very special reunion at the final on December 14.

“My sister Debbie is coming home from Australia for the final,” says 19-year-old Rebekah.

“She was the one who encouraged me to go for Miss Northern Ireland but she couldn’t be here to see me win it.

“We haven’t seen each other since August of last year and Debbie said there was no way she was going to miss this.”

Rebekah has gone above and beyond the call of beauty for the competition since she lifted the Miss Northern Ireland crown.

Apart from her duties as an ambassador for the Children’s Hospice, which will feature in her video presentation to Miss World, she’s been hitting the gym nearly every day just to build up the energy for three weeks of extreme beauty in London.

She’s also taken singing lessons in a bid to win a fast track place in the final line up.

“I just went to a teacher to see if there was anything there we could work with. He said he’d tell me if I couldn’t sing but it turns out I can.

“I’ve been rehearsing Caledonia every day and he’s taught me how to breathe and how to stand – he even wants me to keep up the lessons when I come back.

“And his advice is to just go out there and belt it out,” says Rebekah.

Mum Fiona has also been a secret weapon in the preparations.

“Mum has been brilliant helping me to get organised. I haven’t started to pack everything yet but I’ve got enough to fill at least two suitcases so far and I think I’ll need a third one.”

Rebekah is already prepared for an early morning to late night schedule which will include an Oxford debate, a Thames party cruise, a charity gala to raise money for charity Beauty with a Purpose, and days of rehearsals for the big event.

She’ll take part in all the fast track events from sport to top model in a bid to succeed last year’s winner, Miss Philippines Megan Young.

“I think you have to go there with the attitude that you want to win it and that’s what I’ll do.

 

“But I know as well that I’ll be meeting women from all over the world, learning about new cultures and having the experience of a lifetime.”

The former film, media and TV student says since winning her Miss Ni title in May she has been working towards Miss World.

“I know I’ve changed and that I’m ready for this. I can’t describe how quickly the months have gone.

“But in a few weeks I’ll be standing on a stage at Miss World representing Northern Ireland and I  can’t wait,” she says.

Murder victim Deborah Hunter after she was assaulted recently

Five people have been arrested in connection with the 'suspicious' death of Belfast woman Deborah Hunter, 50.

Ms Hunter was found dead at her home on Finmore Court off the Newtownards Road earlier this month. 

Three men, aged 52, 46, and 33 and two women, aged 46 and 44, were arrested on Thursday in the East Belfast area. 

Ms Hunter had previously reported to police that she had been assaulted. 

The mother of five's death is now being treated as murder.  

Four men have been arrested after an assault rifle was uncovered in Belfast.

The rifle was found after a car was stopped on the Grosvenor Road on Thursday.

The 29-year-old driver was arrested on the scene and another three, aged 27,29 and 46, were subsequently arrested in the Springfield Road area.

All men have been taken to Antrim police station to be questioned on dissident activity.

Detective Superintendent Kevin Geddes from Serious Crime branch said: "All four suspects are being questioned in the serious crime suite at Antrim police station.

"Police inquiries are continuing."

Detectives investigating dissident republican activity have arrested four men in west Belfast and recovered a firearm and ammunition

Darren Anderson

Police have said they are growing more concerned about the whereabouts of Belfast man Darren Anderson.

The 27-year-old was last seen on Wednesday November 19 at around 8.37pm on Botanic Avenue.

Darren is described as being 5ft 8” tall, slight build, with dark wavy hair and green eyes.

When last seen he was wearing a dark cardigan, a light coloured shirt, dark trousers, dark coloured shoes and may have been carrying a white plastic bag.

A PSNI spokesperson said: “Enquiries have shown that Darren withdrew money from an ATM machine on Botanic Avenue at 8.37pm on Wednesday 19th November 2014. Darren also made a phone call from a telephone box at the junction of Ormeau Road/Blackwood Street at 10.05pm on Wednesday 19th November.

“Police would appeal to anyone who may have seen Darren or someone matching his description in either of these areas to contact Detectives at Musgrave Police Station on 101.”

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams

Sinn Fein President and Louth TD Gerry Adams has caused a storm after he was caught branding Unionists as b*****ds.

Adams' outburst came last night at a public meeting in Enniskillen.

The Impartial Recorder made a recording of Adams saying of Unionists: “The point is to break these b*****ds, break them with equality.”

His outburst came after recent comments made by DUP MP Gregory Campbell, who appeared to mock the use of the Irish language by Sinn Fein in the Assembly.  

Campbell also remarked at the recent DUP party conference that he would be treating Sinn Fein's political 'wish list' like toilet paper.

Adams' outburst came as he spoke of Gregory Campbell at the meeting in Enniskillen.

He said of Campbell: "There are people who don't want the nonsense that Gregory Campbell spouts... the bigotry.

 

 "But what's the point? The point is to actually break these b******s, that's the point.

 "And what's going to break them is equality. That's what's going to break them - equality. Who could be afraid of equality? Who could be afraid of treating somebody the way you want to be treated. That's what we need to keep the focus on - that's the Trojan horse of the entire republican strategy."

 Campbell told the Belfast Telegraph last night: "The Sinn Fein mask has definitely slipped.

"People will now be able to see their true colours. To those who know and understand Gerry Adams' background this may not come as a surprise.

"Sinn Fein has for a long time done a sterling job at keeping their true feelings under wraps but now people will be able to see them completely clearly for what they are. All of this is in response to a humorous anecdote."

Teri Lau

Roddy Patterson

Paula Wilson

Attack victim Adam Robinson

Terry Lau of Dunclug Park, Roddy Patterson of Glendun Drive, and Paula Wilson of Millfield, Ballymena, have admitted involvement in an attack which left Adam Robinson bruised, beaten and taped up in a wheelie bin.

 A jury was sworn in yesterday (mon) and the trial of Teri Lau (27), his girlfriend 21-year-old Paula Wilson and Roddy Patterson (27) was due to get underway at Antrim Crown Court today (tues) but instead, the indictment was amended and their lawyers asked for them to be rearraigned.

The trio had been charged with trying to kill Adam Robinson and falsely and injuriously imprisoning him against his will on a date unknown between 1 - 4 September last year.

Instead Lau and Patterson admitted Mr Robinson's false imprisonment and causing him actual bodily harm while Wilson pleaded guilty to "aiding and abetting, counselling or procuring" his false imprisonment.

Prosecuting QC Terence Mooney asked that the charge of attempted murder "remain on the file" and that the jury be discharged from reaching verdicts.

Previous courts have heard that having been seriously assaulted at a drink and drugs fuelled party in the town, Mr Robinson was dumped into a large bin in a wooded area at Sentry Hill and it was then taped shut on a scorching hot day.

He was eventually freed by a dog walker and taken to hospital for treatment to his injuries and although Mr Robinson has recovered well from his physical injuries, it is understood he has been left psychologically traumatised.

Today (tues) trial Judge Gordon Kerr QC adjourned passing sentence until 22 December by which time presentence probation reports and a victim impact statement will have been compiled and submitted.

Thanking the jury of eight men and four women for their attendance, he discharged them from their duties after ordering the foreperson to record verdicts of "guilty by confession" against Lau and Patteron in respect of the false imprisonment offence.

While Ballymena men Lau, from Dunclug Park and Patterson, from Glendun Drive were remanded into custody Wilson, from Main Street in Cullybackey, was released on continuing bail in the meantime.

Smyth's mother owns famous chippy Kings

Psycho chippy Christopher Smyth battered a fast food rival after he rubbished his mum’s pastie recipe.

The rival fryer came to blows as Smyth accused his rival of trying to nick the family recipe for the speciality pastie.

Not content with ‘a-salting’ his victim Smyth jumped from the frying pan into the fire by marching round to the local school and trying to bag his target’s son.

But he got his chips when a court handed him an 18 month jail sentence suspended for three years for losing the bap and threatening to kill his rival.

Smyth whose address was given as Wynchurch Park, south Belfast, went on his  terri-frying rampage in February.

After assaulting the owner of another Belfast chip shop and accusing him of trying to steal a pastie recipe from his mum’s business Smyth told the man he was going to kill him.

The psycho then drove to a Belfast school where he attempted to abduct the man’s son by telling the school he was the child’s uncle.

 

He even told the school principal that he needed the boy as a matter of urgency because the boy’s parents had been in serious car accident and were in hospital fighting for their lives.

The Sunday World has spoken to Smyth’s victim, who asked not to be identified so that his teenage son, who Smyth tried to abduct, is also not identified.“Chris Smyth was planning to do harm to my son and it was only by the grace of God that he wasn’t in school that day.”     

The man who was assaulted by Smyth says his son is still afraid to leave the house in case Smyth tries to kidnap him again.

Speaking exclusively to the Sunday World the man, who also runs a chip shop, confirmed that 27-year-old Smyth went “berserk” about a pastie recipe.

“He arrived at my door early in the morning and was going berserk shouting about some pastie recipe,” said the man.

Smyth’s mum owns and operates King’s which has two outlets, one on the Ormeau Road and the other on the Grosvenor Road, and she employed her son for a time.

“I always knew he had a reputation but his behaviour that day was crazy.

“He was ranting on about it for ages and then he started accusing me of slabbering at his mum.

 “I wasn’t prepared for him and he punched me in the mouth and then he put his boot through our front door. He was shouting ‘You’s are dead’ and ‘if I get a gun I’m gonna shoot you’.

Smyth only left when he was told the police were being called but as the family began trying to recover from that unprovoked outburst they had no idea that worse was about to come.

“We got a call from the school principal and they told us a man was at the school asking for our son,” said the man.

“It was Chris Smyth and he told the school he was the boy’s uncle and that he needed to speak to him immediately because his parents had been in a bad car accident.

Smyth claimed he had only gone to the school to speak to the teenager, but the court didn’t swallow his story.

Just before the trial was about to begin Smyth pleaded guilty to assault, criminal damage and attempted child abduction.

The judge handed the 27-year-old an 18-month sentence, which was suspended for three years.

However, the judge warned Smyth he would “put the sentence into effect” if he committed any further offences.

Julie McGinley

Hazel Stewart

Two of Ulster’s most notorious ladykillers almost came to blows in a hilarious jailhouse bust-up about a lawnmower!

Hubby killers Julie ‘Black Widow’ McGinley and Hazel ‘Hosepipe’ Stewart were involved in an extraordinary dispute recently about who’s turn it was to ride the sit-on mower. 

And the lethal blondes, who are both serving life for bumping off their spouses, had the blazing row right in front of a group of male young offenders.

The young offenders even dubbed it ‘Battle of the Bitches’!

But jail sources say they have since made up and have even been rehearsing together as they plan to put on a Christmas show for their families.

We can also reveal McGinley, who could be released as early as next year, has been getting out on weekend release.

The pair, who are serving life sentences for murder at Hydebank Wood Prison in south Belfast, have been given cushy jobs in the gardening department.They plant flowers, trim bushes and even cut the grass lawns and verges that surround the sprawling grounds of the jail complex which doubles as a young offenders and female prison.

But according to an inmate who was recently released from the YOC the jail-house was almost rocked when the two murderesses went toe-to-toe.

“It was hilarious,” said the former prisoner from Co Tyrone. “The two of them were out doing the gardens as they have been doing for ages.

“Julie was on the ride-on lawnmower when Hazel asked if she could have a turn. There was only a wee strip left so Julie told her she’d just finish it herself.

“Hazel started complaining that Julie had been on it all morning and she was shouting at Julie. That’s when Julie turned the mower off and got off it.

“She started walking towards Hazel and was shouting, ‘Who the f**k do you think you’re talking to?’

“They were doing it on a lawn which was right in front of the plumber’s workshop and it was full of lads who were supposed to be working.

“We were all looking out the window and when Julie got off the mower one of the lads shouted, ‘That’s it Julie – knock her f**k in’.

“Everyone was in stitches laughing. Nobody could believe these two women who have kids were having a scrap about who’s turn it was on a lawnmower.

“Julie came over to the window of the workshop and started shouting at us but it only made the lads behave even worse.

“By the looks of it the two of them maybe have had some other fall out and this was just the last straw but I think if it hadn’t have been for us laughing at them they would have come to blows.”

The can confirm that the ‘Battle of the Bitches’ has well and truly been put to bed as the pair are due to perform together at the Hydebank Christmas panto.

“The two of them are going to be putting on a show this Christmas,” said the former inmate.

“Now there’s two women who you’d turn round for when someone shouts ‘Behind you’!

“Hazel plays the guitar and sings too. She’s been  practising the guitar loads. It’s not just them in the show – there’s a few others including a couple of women who I think are in for human trafficking.

“Everyone thinks it quite funny because the two of them are always walking round in their green dungarees – they’ll look like a couple of hippies singing and dancing for the crowd – I just hope it’s only friends and family they’ve invited otherwise they’ll get dogs abuse.”

McGinley is doing a minimum 15-year stretch for murdering her husband Gerry in 2000.

Hazel Stewart is serving a minimum of 18 years for killing her husband Trevor Buchannan and her lover’s wife Lesley Howell.

Sinn Fein have become embroiled in yet another scandal as a BBC Spotlight program on Tuesday night revealed that the party claimed £700,000 in expenses for research by a firm owned by the party's finance managers.

As a result, Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister has said that he will write to the Chief Constable of the PSNI about the claims. 

A number of Sinn Fein MLAs made the claims which amounted to almost £700,000.

The show also claimed that the DUP's Willie Hay claimed more than £4,000 in expenses for heating oil in one year.

Both the DUP and Sinn Fein have claimed that all claims were above board.

However, Jim Allister said: "The siphoning of public money by Sinn Fein to an apparently bogus research company must be thoroughly investigated, along with potential forgery."

Little Sophie, 9, with tragic puppy Ruby

Exclusive By TINA CALDER

A suspected puppy farmer has left a little girl devastated after her pet died within hours of the family paying £300 for her.

Little Ruby, a nine-week-old Pomeranian, was dying when her owner sold  her to the Copeland family.  As she drove away,  their money in his pocket, the callous dealer knew the tiny pup was already at death’s door.

She survived one night in her new home before passing away, leaving nine year old Sophie in floods of tears.

It is thought Ruby had contracted the deadly Parvo virus and it is highly unlikely any pups in her litter would have survived. And it is probable that the dealers knew they were selling a diseased animal.

Last year Katherine Copeland agreed to buy her daughter a dog for Christmas, but what should have been a joyous occasion became the stuff of nightmares.

Katherine, 37, from Belfast said the family thought long and hard about taking on the responsibility of caring for a pet.

“It wasn’t an off-the-cuff decision,” she said.

 

“We were prepared for puppy training, bringing up the pup in a loving home, daily walks and all the responsibilities. I was raised with dogs when I was a child. My mum had a dog for 15 years.”

She turned to selling site Gumtree after someone advised her that it was a good place to make the right contacts to get a full breed dog.

“I found a 9-week old puppy, wormed and injected to date and that the mother is their family pet.”

The asking price was £300 and all seemed to be going to plan as the seller agreed to meet Katherine at the bus station in Derry from where they would go to the seller’s home.

“When we arrived she had the pup with her and said that she was moving house so it didn’t suit for us to her house. I had no reason to disbelieve her.”

Ruby stole their hearts and they set about buying a bed, toys and supplies as they got their home ready for the new arrival.

Finally the day arrived when Katherine was to  pay the £200 balance for  Ruby. This time the woman called  and arranged to bring the dog to them.

 “When I met with the woman who was probably in her late 40s or early 50s everything happened so quickly.  She was driving a green coloured old Vauxhall estate car.

“Next time I saw her was when she delivered Ruby to us.

“Little Ruby was freezing cold and shaking and I asked what was wrong.  She confidently told me Ruby didn’t travel well and I felt guilty.

“The woman told me to bathe her and dry her which we did but I was confused. She wasn’t as full of life as I expected a little pup to be. She was very quiet so we took turns and cuddled her and kept her warm, we loved her from the moment we saw her.”

The little pup grew increasingly lethargic as the night wore on and by late evening she couldn’t walk and had clearly lost the power of her hind legs.

Katherine put Ruby down for the night and kept her nearby but the worst was still to come.

Choking back the tears she revealed: “We did everything we could for Ruby and throughout the night I decided I was going to take her to the vet first thing that morning.”

The dog’s condition continued to worsen, by early morning it was clear Ruby was losing her battle. Katherine never got the chance to take the pup to the vet.

“I feared the worst, I explained to Sophie that I thought Ruby was much sicker than we thought, it was heartbreaking.

“We both held Ruby and after a couple of minutes her wee eyes rolled back and she passed away.

“We were devastated. wSophie had just one day with her new wee puppy it was so traumatic for her to have to go through this.

“I hope that no other child or family will have to go through this and these people are stopped.”

Later that day an angry Katherine contacted the seller.“Shew said she was shocked and told me she would refund my money as soon as possible,” said Katherine.

“But shortly after that the three numbers I had for her no longer worked, she stopped replying to me.”

Heroin deal 'Dikos'

'Dikos' in his heroin transaction with Hugh Jordan

These are the new faces of Ulster drugs scourge.

Six weeks after the Sunday World exposed the eastern European organised crime gangs flooding the streets of Belfast with class A drugs such as cocaine and heroin – these shocking picture show it’s business as usual.

Deadly narcotics continue to be peddled in broad daylight under the noses of PSNI officers, and the ruthless gang behind the operation is rapidly turning the city into a heroin hell.

The Dublin-based villians have identified Northern Ireland as a lucrative market place.

This week the Sunday World exposes more of the criminal figures at heart of the drug dealing gang.

Less than two months ago we  lifted the lid on a ‘dial-a-deal’ heroin supply gang, which was using a squad of innocent-looking bike riders to supply and sell heroin and cocaine around the leafy lanes of the Queen’s University area of Belfast.

Gang bosses pulled the bike teams out of the city moving them to Dublin.

Through a series of contacts the Sunday World came face to face with one of the gang’s most prominent dealers.

We met in the lobby of a well-known hotel just across the border in Co. Louth.

An elderly foreign national with a gentle smile and a firm handshake, and posing as a successful criminal businessman, he bought our story that we were ready to join his team of drug runners.

The men – all ex-members members of the Polish military – were instructed to supply this reporter with heroin at a wholesale price.

A few days later in Belfast, we were introduced to ‘Dikos’ – a former soldier in the Polish Army – who heads up the cartel’s money-spinning operation in Belfast.

Standing six feet tall and a fitness fanatic, he controls the daily supply of heroin, cocaine and highly addictive crystal meth, to the Belfast’s growing drug dependent community.

Wearing standard drug dealers garb of designer sportswear, complete with a scarf partially covering my face and the obligatory beanie hat, I went ‘up close and personal’ with ‘Stephanos’ – another ex-member of the Polish Armed Forces – who provides the muscle to allow his boss to deal drugs unhindered.

Unseen most of the time, this ‘man mountain’ remains within ‘shouting distance’ of Dikos who dishes out drugs deals at a furious rate. Stephanos is known for extreme violence.

And it is his job to deal with any possible threats or disruption from loyalist or republican paramilitary organisations in Belfast.

On the streets, Dikos sells .2 grams of heroin deals at £25 per wrap. And he knocks out .25 grams of cocaine and crystal meth for the same price. From the second he appears on the streets at 10.00am sharp each morning Dikos offers a range of drugs for sale.

However, we soon learnt that Dikos and his team deal mostly in heroin – the most deadly and dangerous drug of all.

And I was also introduced to the diminutive Boguslav, another former soldier. Known as Bobby, he acts as an eagle-eyed lookout for the death-dealing gang. ‘Bobby’ has no ‘hands on’ role in the supply or sale of drugs. His job is simply to provide an early warning alarm to the other two at the slightest sign of police or any other unwanted presence.

The drugs gang controlled by Dikos operate 12 hour shifts, offering addicts a drugs menu consisting of heroin, cocaine and crystal meth from 10.00am until 10.pm. Initial contact is made by telephone where a male voice informs potential buyers where to locate the drugs team.

Hugh Jordan with the bag of heroin he bought from 'Dikos'

His sales blueprint is almost identical to  the one used by the biker gang although it is clear Dikos’s team turns over far greater quantities of drugs in the course of the day.

Earlier this week, I arranged to meet ‘Dikos’ and his men as they sold drugs in the vicinity of Cooke Centenary Presbyterian Church on Belfast’s Ormeau Road.

I told ‘Dikos’ I wanted to purchase some heroin with a view to testing its quality. And I also told him that if his heroin was up to the mark, I would be placing a substantial order with him.

It was shortly after 10.00am on Tuesday, when I spotted ‘Dikos’ walking up the Ormeau Road.

After acknowledging my presence with a casual nod of the head, he beckoned me to follow him down the tree-lined North Parade.

At a laneway near the rear of the church, ‘Dikos’ stopped suddenly. In broken English, he asked what kind of drugs I required as samples. I replied “Brown” – the drugs scene code word for heroin, which is also known as the dirty drug.

‘Dikos’ produced several wraps of heroin which he had secreted inside his mouth.

I took possession of the drugs and handed him cash in full payment. Without another word, the Polish drugs baron turned on his heels and he was immediately approached by a number of clearly drugs-dependent customers wishing to buy heroin.

From a safe position, ‘Stephanos’ kept a close eye on proceedings and ‘Boguslav’ scoured the horizon for police. However, despite their streetwise and worldly ways, none of the trio noticed that a Sunday World photographer had snapped the entire episode, including the moment the drugs were handed over and paid for.

As well as selling drugs at the Cooke Centenary Church, ‘Dikos’ and his men also deal drugs at Camden Street, off the Lisburn Road and under a bridge at a traffic island on the approach road to the M2 motorway!

Drugs dependent customer gather daily at Henry Street in the New Lodge district before taking their lives in their hands by racing across eight lanes of motorway bound traffic.

Today, the Sunday World makes no apology for naming and exposing the drugs dealers peddling certain death.

And on behalf of the people of Belfast, we are asking the PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton - for the second time in two months - just what he plans to do to counteract the foreign national drugs barons now blatantly selling death on the streets of Northern Ireland’s largest city.

Bobby Storey

The Northern Chair of Sinn Fein, Bobby Storey, 58, has been arrested in relation to the murder of Jean McConville.

Storey has been taken to Antrim Serious Crime Suite for questioning.

He was arrested in West Belfast on Thursday morning.

Jean McConville, a mother of 10, was abducted in December 1972 from her Divis flat before being murdered by the IRA.

Her remains were found in County Louth in 2003.

Four men have been arrested at separate locations in Dungiven by police investigating paramilitary activity.

 The men aged 31, 53, 58 and 62 were arrested on Thursday morning.

A spokesperson from the PSNI's Serious Crime Branch said: "We are investigating various forms of paramilitary activity in the area, predominantly over the last four years.

"These include shooting incidents and threats. The suspects have been taken to the Serious Crime Suite at Antrim police station for questioning."

Two men in their 20s have been shot in the legs in Belfast and Derry in two separate incidents.

Both attacks happened on Thursday. 

The man in Belfast is believed to have been abducted by three masked men on the Donegall Road, before being taken to Ladymar Walk in West Belfast before being shot at around 6pm.

In Derry, a man was shot in the right leg at Bracken Park at around 8.30pm.

Both men are recovering in hospital after the attacks and their injuries are not said to be life-threatening.

Police have appealed for any witnesses or anyone with any information to contact them.

A member of the USA team trains with an altitude mask to restrict his breathing

Troy Isley, 18, from Virginia, hits the pads

It was the Battle of the Atlantic — but not as we know it.

For a project known as the Belfast-Beltway Boxing Project has given young boxers from the east coast of the USA and Northern Ireland the opportunity to test their skills on either side of the pond.

And last week, a group of ten fighters from Washington DC and the surrounding areas such as Baltimore, Maryland and Virginia, took on a squad of fighters from Northern Ireland in a spectacular charity fundraiser boxing showcase at Titanic Belfast.

We caught up with some of the boxers at the world famous Holy Trinity boxing camp in Turf Lodge in West Belfast as the American kids underwent an intense training session and meet and greet with local politicians.

Local boxer Caoimhin Hynes, with a larger than life personality, and hair-do to match, was bubbling with excitement ahead of his clash with US boxer Jason Bell.

“My last title was Ulster Intermediate Title,” said team captain Caoimhin.

“I’ve been part of this boxing project for a few years now, and I’ve been part of the Irish squad that went to the USA.

“I went to Washington DC two years ago and the Americans had a really strong team back then. The team that’s over here this year also look very good. 

“Many of the boxers that come from both here and the US come from disadvantaged backgrounds, so getting the chance to travel to Belfast or over to the USA can be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Mentoring the young men as they trained, referee and ex-coach Brendan Lowe from Belfast, who has been with the project for eight years, explained how the Belfast-Beltway exchange scheme has evolved.

He said: “I’ve been with the project since it started eight years ago.

 

“I’ll be travelling out to Washington with the Irish lads again in April of next year for another Belfast-Beltway Boxing Classic.

 

 “I referee the matches, and sure, there’s a really competitive atmosphere, but the whole idea of the boxing events is to give the kids a chance to see a bit of the world.

 

“In the past we’ve had kids from areas like the Shankill Road and Ardoyne join forces and travel to the USA to fight.

 

“These are young people who may have been traditional rivals in the conflict here, but through boxing they’ve ended up friends for life.”

DUP MLA Sammy Douglas, a lifelong boxing fan was at the state-of-the-art boxing facility with another ex-boxer and politician, Sinn Fein MLA Alex Maskey, right.

Sammy said: “It’s been great to meet these boxers from Washington DC and to have them fight in East Belfast.

“Boxing has always been a cross-community sport in Northern Ireland - even throughout the Troubles .”

He added: “We’re always trying to encourage cross-community sporting events, and it would be great to seem more investment in areas and projects like this.”

Alex, a former boxer, tested his skills out on the pads in one of the rings at the ornate gym.

 The spectacular Holy Trinity boxing gym in Turf Lodge 

He said: “The Belfast-Beltway Boxing Project is a great idea.

“The project has achieved a lot since its conception helping kids from both here and in America.

“It shows the kids that are involved, perhaps some who’ve come from disadvantaged backgrounds that they can go places in life, and sports like boxing can help them achieve that.

“Speaking to some of the young lads from the USA, they’ve  come from areas where poverty is rife and they have very limited resources. Projects like this help to make sure that they put the right foot forward.”

He added: “Boxing has been the jewel in our crown here for decades and our boxers have always produced a lot of medals, and I’ve always made the point that boxing has a strong role to play in cross-community development.”

Troy Isley, 16, from Virginia, shadow-boxed in the corner as his teammates hit the bags across the gym floor.

He said: “I competed in the event last year in Washington when the Irish team came over and won my fight, so I’m hopeful about winning this year.

“It’s been very interesting to see Ireland — and I love the food! People have real nice personalities, but the weather has been awful!”

In the ring was Alonso Thompson, 18, from Washington DC.

“I’ve had a nice experience here so far. This has been my first time in Europe.”

The event proved to be a huge triumph for all involved, even though the Irish squad walked away 8-2 victories on the night.

One of the organisers and Irish team coaches, Seamus Kelly, said: “There was a great atmosphere in Titanic Belfast and the whole place was bunged.

“There was entertainment and a disco on afterwards and local boxer Eamonn Magee turned up as well.

“All-in-all the night was a rip-roaring success.”

Michael Copeland

He’s the man known in his heartland of East Belfast as ‘The People’s Politician’.

He’s Michael Copeland, who served six years in the Ulster Defence Regiment in Border Bandit Country during the nadir of The Troubles, and put his life on the line countless times.

But yesterday, he confessed to the Sunday World: “I’ve tried to take my life in recent days – not once, but twice.”

And the 60-year-old who says he has served his own Ulster community in different ways – for six years in the UDR, and twelve years as a Councillor and Stormont Assemblyman (which he still is), rising to become his Ulster Unionist Party’s spokesman on Social Services – confessed to us:

“For the last nine weeks I have had to take myself out of public life, and public service.

 

“I have been subjected to a ruthless dirty tricks campaign.

 

“The poison pens have been out in politics.

 

“And the whispering political perpetrators of the smears have driven me to attempt suicide, not once, but twice.”

The Sunday World can reveal today, with MLA Mr Copeland’s permission, that what he calls those ‘poisonous and venomous innuendos and rumours’ revolve around an inappropriate sexual relationship.

In an hour-long face-to-face interview in the Sunday World office last night – agreed to by Michael Copeland after a week of phone calls – the MLA defiantly stated: “I have had no inappropriate relationship with anyone.

Emphatically

“I simply wanted to give a person a chance – and then the political world becomes full of rumour and innuendo.”

The Sunday World understands the ‘rumour and innuendo’ arise from Mr Copeland giving work to someone in his Stormont office.

We were told that a complaint had been made to police.

Yesterday, Michael Copeland, now living out of the family home, emphatically stated: “I have not been contacted by the PSNI and I have no knowledge of any such allegation.

“I have had no so-called ‘inappropriate relationship’ – in other words, sex – with anyone.

“I have never stepped outside my marriage pledge of fidelity within marriage.”

Mr Copeland pulled the trigger on politicians – not excluding some within his own Ulster Unionist Party – who may have been gunning for him over the ‘inappropriate’ sex slur.

In a damning indictment of some Stormont politicians he bluntly told us: “If  you ever probe the origin of the word ‘politics’, the ‘poli’ stands for ‘many’, the ‘tics’ stand for parasites who feed off other people. That’s what’s happening to me.”

He said he had been subjected to the ‘dirty tricks, whispering’ campaign for the past 10 weeks – the time he has reclused himself from public life and is now living in a County Down seaside village, far from his political and personal powerbase in East Belfast, where, not so long ago, he was the UUP’s official spokesperson on Health and Social Services at Stormont.

He tells of the toll the rising tide of ‘dirty tricks’ has taken upon him. To be fair, he wants no mention of his family, who he fights compassionately, but  aggressively,  to protect.

“My problems are my own,” he says, adding: “Look, I have always tried to help people who have had nothing. All I have ever wanted to do was take some broken human life and try to make it better.

“And in doing that, and in my innocence, I believed no one would set out to harm me.”

And then he hammered the ‘fantasists’ at Stormont, both, he claims, within his own party and the DUP, who, he alleges, ‘have made things up’.

He stated: “There are f*****s in there who don’t understand the plight of the ordinary people, and who don’t know, or want, to help them.

“They live and work up there in a plastic bubble.”

And he said of the woman who, he admits, worked in his Stormont office at one stage: “She is doomed because of the place where she was born.

“But there was no inappropriate relationship with her. And there was no inappropriate relationship with anyone else.”

Michael Copeland was adamant yesterday that no formal complaint of any ‘inappropriate’ sexual behaviour has been notified to the PSNI – or him.

We checked. As far as we could ascertain, none has.

But the veteran politician of a dozen years is still unsure of his future – and his life.

He told us: “I’ve tried to take my own life twice because of this campaign of vilification.

“I was thinking about it again at 2.00a.m. this morning. I phoned for help. There was none.”

And when we asked him if he was going to quit politics after a dozen years of public service as the self-styled ‘People’s Politician’, he frankly informed us: “It may not be just about clocking out of politics…it may be clocking out of life. My life is still hanging on a thread.

“I just hope bringing this out in the open in the Sunday World helps.”

Finally, asked what has driven him into the depths of such despair – as well as the ‘dirty tricks’ he alleges – he replies in two words.

They are: “Compassion fatigue”.