A freelance journalist who claims a "supergrass" told him he murdered a Catholic taxi-driver revealed yesterday that his bills are being paid through the witness protection scheme.
Under cross-examination by Mr Jim Allister QC, Mr Nick Martin-Clark said that his £800 monthly rent bill is paid through the scheme, along with his council tax of £470 a quarter and other expenses.
Mr Martin-Clark also said that his furniture storage was paid, in an effort to make it as "smooth and easy" as possible for him to relocate.
Saying there was "no financial gain" for him, the journalist further claimed there had been threats made against him, adding that he would stay within the scheme "for a while".
He is giving evidence against Craigavon man, Mr Clifford McKeown (43), whom he claims revealed to him during a series of five prison interviews that he murdered taxi-driver Mr Michael McGoldrick at the height of the Drumcree protests in July 1996.
Mr Martin-Clark, who broke a promise not to reveal Mr McKeown's identity as the alleged Loyalist hitman, said he thought Mr McKeown had taken a "calculated risk" in confessing to him.
"Anybody talking to a journalist about something like this knows to some extent that he's doing it at his own peril," said the reporter.
In what the defence described as a five-minute "diatribe", Mr Martin-Clark compared Mr McKeown's alleged revelations to his old days as a former "supergrass", describing how he "talked away merrily", confident that the journalist "would never go to the police".
The journalist claims he decided to write the story when Mr McKeown ended contact with him. Sitting in the dock, Mr McKeown, Parkmore, Craigavon, shook his head as Mr Martin-Clark claimed that he would "bask in notoriety" even if the story was published, "thinking that if I did go to the police, there would not be enough evidence".
The case continues.