Guilty Plea by Ulster Loyalist May Shed Light on Police Collusion<br />Mr. Haggarty is the latest of many paramilitary figures from both sides of Northern Ireland’s sectarian divide to become a "supergrass," a slang term for an insider who turns informant, derived from the expression "snake in the grass." Niall Murphy, a lawyer representing the families of some of Mr. Haggarty’s victims, said it was traumatic for the families to sit in court on Friday<br />and hear Mr. Haggarty plead guilty to the murders, knowing his sentence could be lenient.<br />But the court is expected to reduce Mr. Haggarty’s prison time significantly if he provides testimony against other members of his group<br />and about any collusion between the group and officers of the counterterrorist Special Branch of the province’s former police force, the Royal Ulster Constabulary.<br />But the plea deal will be beneficial, Mr. Murphy said, if it reveals the extent to which Mr. Haggarty, who was a paid informant for the Royal Ulster Constabulary throughout the period, was committing murders<br />and other crimes with the knowledge, consent, protection or encouragement of the authorities.<br />Gary Haggarty, 45, a former leader of the Ulster Volunteer Force in the Mount Vernon area of Belfast, appeared<br />in Laganside Court on Friday to enter his plea, which covered crimes committed from 1991 to 2007.<br />By ED O’LOUGHLINJUNE 23, 2017<br />DUBLIN — A Protestant paramilitary leader and police informant from Belfast pleaded<br />guilty to more than 200 terrorist crimes on Friday, including five murders.<br />The plea was the first step in a legal process that could expose past collusion between the police<br />and loyalist terrorists in Northern Ireland during the years of sectarian conflict known as the Troubles.
