FRI. DECEMBER 1, 2000: Andy Steele (22), his fiancé and year-old son left their home at Channel View in the Seacourt estate in Larne, Co Antrim following an attack on their home in the early hours of the morning. He woke to find a man standing over him with a shotgun, threatening to kill him because the windows of his own house had been smashed.
They were subsequently told by the RUC that the LVF had threatened to shoot ‘man, woman or child’ if they did not leave the Seacourt Estate. A number of families were given this warning, including the Shaws who have been a previous target of loyalist death squads.
The home of a pregnant Protestant woman was set on fire and a caravan belonging to a nationalist family was torched.
Three RUC men were injured after trouble broke out when a band broke ranks to attack nationalists during the ‘closing of the gates’ Apprentice Boys parade in Derry. Police in riot gear used dogs to drive some marchers away from the Diamond area.
SUN. DECEMBER 3, 2000: A number of homes were evacuated on the Old Glenarm Road in Larne, Co Antrim while the British army examined a hand grenade which was thrown through the kitchen window of the home of two elderly sisters there.
Another nationalist family were attacked in Fairway the Seacourt Estate in Larne, Co Antrim. The McCormicks, who have lived there 18 years said they would not move out, although they have been attacked 15 times, the only reason being the fact that they were a nationalist family. In this latest incident, a petrol bomb was thrown at their home, causing scorch damage to a caravan parked in their front drive.
It was reported that sixteen of those living in the Seacourt Estate in Larne, Co Antrim have sought other accommodation.
MON. DECEMBER 4, 2000: A storeroom at the Catholic church at Harryville, Ballymena, Co Antrim, which was the target of a 20-months picket by loyalists in 1997-8, was damaged in an arson attack.
TUES. DECEMBER 5, 2000: Trevor Kells (35) was shot dead after he went to pick up a fare in his taxi in the loyalist Hesketh Road, off the Upper Crumlin Road in Belfast.
British army technical experts were called to examine a suspect device placed on a windowsill at Ballinamore, Ballymoney, Co Antrim. Several houses were evacuated.
WED. DECEMBER 6, 2000: Nationalist Gary Moore (30), from Limavady, Co Derry was shot dead by a loyalist death squad at his workplace in Monkstown on the outskirts of Belfast.
In a second loyalist death squad attack in Belfast, Paul Scullion (24) was shot and badly injured as he sat outside a row of shops at the junction of the Oldpark Road and Rosapenna Drive by a gunman who was a pillion passenger on a motor scooter. He was taken to the Mater Hospital where his condition was described as ‘critical’.
FRI. DECEMBER 8, 2000: A 76-year-old woman and her son escaped injury after a pipe-bomb attack on their home in Coleraine, Co Derry. In another incident in the town, a man escaped injury after a pipe-bomb exploded in the back garden of his home.
A car showroom on the outskirts of Belfast was damaged after petrol bombers targeted it for the second time.
SUN. DECEMBER 10, 2000: Raymond Millar, a Protestant taxi-driver in his 30s from the Newbuildings area of Derry was shot a number of times after he was called to collect a fare in the predominantly loyalist Lincoln Court area of the Waterside area in Derry. It is believed that a call was made to a mainly nationalist taxi firm, asking for a particular driver by name and as he was not available the caller phoned another firm with a mixed workforce. The shooting is said to have been the work of the UDA/UFF loyalist death squad.
A loyalist family, Jim Martin (46) and his father (74) put their home at Doran’s Hill in Newry, Co Down up for sale after the latest in a series of attacks on the house. A large lump of concrete was thrown through the lounge window.
The home of former leading UDP member Jim English on the Doagh Road in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim was raked with gunfire. It was believed to be the work of the UDA/UFF loyalist death squad.
THURS. DECEMBER 14, 2000: Two men were arrested after a primed bomb was discovered in a search by an RUC mobile unit on a car in King Street near the city centre in Belfast. The bomb contained one-and-a-half pounds of commercial explosive, with a detonator and a timer.
SAT. DECEMBER 16, 2000: Two men -- Seán Paul Magee (21), from Lothair Avenue in Belfast and a juvenile -- appeared in court in Belfast charged with possessing a bomb with intent to endanger life or to cause serious damage to property.
The UDA/UFF loyalist death squad was blamed for the murder of James William Rockett (29), whose body was found on waste ground at Tynedale Gardens in the Ballysillan area of Belfast.
SUN. DECEMBER 17, 2000: Two British soldiers and two demonstrators were injured during clashes at a protest against military installations at a watchtower near Crossmaglen in South Armagh.
WED. DECEMBER 20, 2000: Four bags of Frangex explosives were found by 26-County police in farmland near Kilmacow on the Waterford/Kilkenny border. Two men were arrested in connection with the find.
THURS. DECEMBER 21, 2000: A pipe bomb was thrown at the home of a nationalist family in Hillview Road, Carrickfergus Co Antrim. A window was broken and damage was done to the front door and porch.
Thomas Ryan (25), from Kilscanlon, Foulksmills, Co Wexford was freed on bail by the Special Court in Dublin having been charged that on December 18 he knowingly had in his possession 87 sticks of gelignite contrary to Section 4 of the Explosives Act 1883, as amended by Section 15 of the Offences Against the State Act 1998.
FRI. DECEMBER 22, 2000:
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has found that parts of the Offences Against the State Act compromise the right to a fair trial. In a case taken by three men, Anthony Heaney, William McGuinness and Paul Quinn, who all served six months jail under Section 52 of the Offences Against the State Act, the court found that the three men did not have fair trials or enjoy the presumption of innocence.
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