Witnesses to a stabbing heard boasts of "being better" than the infamous loyalist Shankill Butcher murder gang, a murder trial heard yesterday. The claim was made by Mr Gordon Kerr, prosecuting, as three Co Antrim men went on trial accused of the murder of an Antrim man in September last year.
Antrim Crown Court, sitting in Ballymena, heard that Mr Leslie Davidson would have been 20 yesterday had he survived the knife attack at Stiles Way on September 1998.
Denying his murder are Mr John Smith (22), Limetree Avenue, Mr James Alexander Carson (18), Greenview Place, and Mr Rodney Alan Bishop (21), Umgall Road, at Nutts Corner.
Mr Kerr said Mr Smith gave himself up to police and, while he initially denied everything, he later admitted being at the scene. Mr Bishop and Mr Carson also allegedly admitted assaulting Mr Davidson but denied all knowledge of the stabbing. The trial continues today.