A Belfast man originally accused of murdering INLA man Gino Gallagher has been jailed for 11 years for plotting another murder. Jailing Charles Kevin Begley (26), Mr Justice Kerr said it was accepted he had nothing to do with murdering Gallagher, who was shot in an unemployment exchange in January 1996.
Begley, from Dunville Street, off the Falls Road, originally went on trial at Belfast Crown Court accused of murdering Gallagher (32), but the charge was dropped when he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of conspiring to murder a person or persons unknown.
Mr Justice Kerr told Begley that those engaged in such conspiracies must expect to be dealt with severely. "I bear in mind, however, that by accepting your plea of guilty to conspiracy, the Crown has acknowledged that your guilt in assisting in the murder of Mr Gallagher could not be established.
"Your case must therefore be approached on the basis that you were not involved in that murder and that your role was confined to an agreement to help in the killing of a person unknown to you," added the judge.