PPS to consider if Winston Irvine sentence should be appealed

The Public Prosecution Service (PPS) is to consider whether there is any legal basis to appeal against the sentence handed down to leading loyalist Winston Irvine for firearms offences.

Irvine was sentenced to two-and-a-half years, with half to be served in jail, at Belfast Crown Court on Tuesday following an incident where firearms and ammunition were found in the boot of his car.

Irvine avoided a statutory five-year sentence on several of the charges he faced after Judge Gordon Kerr KC ruled that there were “exceptional circumstances” in his case, namely Irvine’s “work for peace and his charity work in the community”.

Ulster Unionist MLA Doug Beattie has said he will write to the PPS over the sentence.

A PPS spokesperson said:  “While sentencing is a matter for the independent judiciary, the Director of Public Prosecutions does have the power to refer certain sentences to the Court of Appeal on the grounds that they may be unduly lenient.

“An unduly lenient sentence is one that falls outside the range of sentences that a judge, taking into consideration all relevant factors and having regard to sentencing guidance, could reasonably impose.

“The sentence must not just be lenient, but unduly lenient.

“We are considering whether there is a legal ground to refer the sentence in this case to the Court of Appeal.”

An application by the PPS to review a sentence must be made within 28 days from the day when the sentence was imposed.

If the Court of Appeal agrees that the sentence was unduly lenient, it may increase the sentence.

First Minister Michelle O’Neill welcomed the PPS’s consideration.

“Personally I think it was too lenient and I welcome the fact the PPS have said they will look at it,” she told the BBC.

Irvine’s co-accused in the case, Robin Workman, was handed the statutory five-year sentence by Judge Kerr. He will also serve half of that term behind bars.

Irvine, 49, of Ballysillan Road in north Belfast and Workman, 54, of Shore Road in Larne, County Antrim had both previously admitted possession of a firearm and ammunition in suspicious circumstances.

They also admitted two counts of possessing a handgun without a certificate, one count of possessing ammunition without a certificate, possessing a prohibited weapon and possessing a firearm without a certificate.

Workman further pleaded guilty to possessing a .177 calibre air rifle without holding a firearm certificate.

The offences were committed on June 8, 2022 when Workman transported a quantity of weapons and ammunition to the Glencairn area of Belfast in his van, which were then put into the boot of Irvine’s Volkswagen Tiguan car.

A short time later Irvine’s vehicle was stopped by police in Disraeli Street.

A long-barrelled firearm, two suspected pistols, several magazines and a large quantity of ammunition were discovered inside a bag in the boot.

While the judge noted that UVF paraphernalia was found in the homes of both defendants he did not consider there was a terrorist link to the weapons that were seized.

Mr Beattie told the BBC Nolan Show: “Here we have a man at a time when tensions were heightened in Northern Ireland due to issues around Brexit and the protocol who was found with weapons and ammunition.

“How on earth the judge can say there was no terrorist link to this is utterly bizarre if we don’t know what the weapons were for.”