A Loyalist prisoners' support group has called for more sensitive reporting of prisoner releases after a member of the Progressive Unionist Party, who had served 14 years in jail on a UVF murder conviction, apparently took his own life. Mr William Giles (41), from the Tullycarnet area of east Belfast, was found dead in his home last Friday.
Epic, a loyalist ex-prisoners' rehabilitation group based on Belfast's Shankill Road, said it believed Mr Giles took his own life and his death illustrated the "immense pressures prisoners endure on their release".
Mr Giles was released last year before the early release scheme came into being. He had been convicted of the murder of Mr Michael Fay (25), a Catholic, in east Belfast in November 1982.
Mr Tom Roberts of Epic said the recent "media spotlight" on the jail releases issue was posing difficulties for ex-prisoners.
"His death demonstrates to us the difficulties prisoners have upon their release and motivates us to attempt to ensure that no prisoner in the future feels so desperate that they should take their own life," Epic said.
A member of the PUP, Mr Giles worked with Epic on his release. Mr Roberts said he had involved himself in community activity, also working for groups such as the Tullycarnet Community Forum, East Belfast Community Development Association, and the Prison Arts Foundation.
