Michael Stone has been freed from jail, it emerged tonight.
The one-time UDA man, who killed three people in a gun and grenade attack at Milltown cemetery in West Belfast in 1988, left Maghaberry earlier this evening.
Last year a legal challenge that would have prevented him applying again for early release was dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
The BBC is reporting that it is understood Parole Commissioners took the decision to free him on Monday. The Northern Ireland Prison Service told Belfast Live it was a matter for the Parole Commissioners.
The legal action to stop him getting out was taken by the sister of one of his victims. Deborah McGuiness’s brother, Thomas McErlean, 20, was killed during that attack on Milltown cemetery.
In dismissing the appeal, the Lord Chief Justice, Sir Declan Morgan, said the court was satisfied that the legislation allowed a prisoner, who has had his licence revoked, to apply for a further declaration of his eligibility for release.
After being freed under the Good Friday Agreement, he was sent back to prison after entering Stormont in 2006 armed with explosives and an axe in an attempt to murder Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. Stone denied it had been a bid to kill the politicians, instead claiming it was “an act of performance art”.
Reacting to the news the family of Thomas McErlean, one of the three mourners murdered by Stone at Milltown, described the release as “unjust”.
In a statement released through the Relatives For Justice, they said: “We have been made aware that Michael Stone is to be released from custody shortly.
“As a family we have pursued legal action to try and ensure Stone remained imprisoned. It is unjust Michael Stone is able to move forward with his life when he took the lives of Thomas McErlean and many other people.
"Our family are denied the chance to heal whilst he refuses to answer questions about which parts of the state armed and assisted him with so many murders.
“As a family we continue to love, miss and remember Thomas, and call for a proper investigation into his death that will reveal the truth about state collusion and loyalist paramilitaries. The victims families need to be the focus rather than Michael Stone.”
