The leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) has said it was "beyond doubt" that loyalists had killed Co Down woman Lisa Dorrian.
PUP leader, David Ervine
Speaking on BBC's Spotlight programme last night, Mr David Ervine asked why it was that the PSNI were willing to indulge in speculation about IRA involvement in Robert McCartney's murder but dismissed speculation of LVF involvement Ms Dorrian's disappearance
He said it was "beyond doubt" that the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) killed the 25-year-old.
Ms Dorrian from Bangor, Co Down went missing when she left a party at a caravan park in Ballyhalbert on the Ards Peninsula early on February 28th.
"I can't work out why police said speculation about Lisa's killers was bad," he said. "It didn't seem to be too unhelpful with the McCartney murder.'
Mr Ervine's comments come amid reports that the loyalist paramilitaries could take the law into their own hands.
He said: "The more they think justice is not likely to happen in that respect the more they're going to, in their own minds, protect their community."
Within days of Ms Dorrian's disappearance, walls were daubed with graffiti in the Co Down village blaming the LVF. Messages painted on the entrance of the village's Moatlands Estate say "PSNI: ask the LVF where Lisa is" and "LVF drug-dealing scum".
Police believe she was murdered and it is widely thought that loyalist paramilitary drug dealers were responsible. Two men arrested and questioned about her murder were released without charge in March. The woman's family have offered a €14,500 reward for information.