Twenty-two loyalists have been convicted in the past 18 months for dealing drugs connected the East Belfast UVF.  The UVF’s Shankill Road based leadership has now ‘stood down’ several prominent figures in the notorious east Belfast battalion, to protect ‘transition’ funding.  
 Ciaran Barnes, chief reporter with the Sunday Life, has the latest.   

The BelTel brings you some of Northern Ireland's top journalists, Allison Morris, Sam McBride and Suzanne Breen to name but a few, giving you the inside stories behind what is in the news. Presented by Ciarán Dunbar, the Bel Tel investigates, debates and informs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

The BelTel

East Belfast UVF: Ciaran Barnes reports the latest on the drug dealer purge

Lauren Bradford-Clarke grew up believing her mother Lesley had taken her own life before finding out the truth – her father was a murderer. She was told her mum Lesley took her own life, eventually being told it was part of a ‘suicide’ pact with a man, Trevor Buchanan – the husband of the woman who would eventually become her stepmother. That woman was Hazel Stewart, how had been having an affair with Lauren’s father, Colin Howell.  Ten 18-years after the deaths, Colin Howell walked into a police station and confessed to murdering them, implicating Steward as his partner in crime. 

Dr Lauren Bradford-Clarke, now a criminologist, spoke with the Belfast Telegraph’s Claire Williamson. 

 

Lauren Bradford-Clarke – being Colin Howell’s daughter 

Jon Burrows is taking the leadership of the UUP unopposed after current deputy leader Robbie Butler confirmed that he would not be standing. Current party leader Mike Nesbitt has also said that any decision to replace him as health minister would “perhaps raise questions”. The DUP’s Gavin Robinson has wasted no time - invited his rival for talks, telling him to “set aside issues of the past” - but could ‘unionist unity’ ever really happen? 
Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Unionist commentators Tim Cairns and Alex Kane and Belfast Telegraph’s Northern Ireland Editor Sam McBride.

Jon Burrows takes charge of UUP and Gavin Robinson begins unionist courtship

On St Patrick’s Day 2024, Gardaí made a grim discovery, the body of a young woman in a canal just outside Monaghan town. She was 23-year-old Kelly Marie Lynch, originally from County Fermanagh. A former PSNI detective who has investigated a number of prominent murders, including the 2020 killing of Katie Simpson by Jonathan Creswell, believes Kelly Lynch’s case should be upgraded to a murder investigation. 

Host: Fionnán Sheehan Guest: Catherine Fegan & James Brannigan. 

East Belfast UVF: Ciaran Barnes reports the latest on the drug dealer purge

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