A former top loyalist turned supergrass failed yesterday in a High Court challenge to the PSNI’s refusal to provide him with all his interview tapes.
Senior judges ruled Gary Haggarty’s bid for full disclosure should be dealt with at his criminal trial, rather than through judicial review proceedings. The 39-year-old, from north Belfast, is on remand charged with the murder of taxi driver William Harbinson in May 1997.
He is also accused of eight other offences, including directing terrorism, UVF membership, conspiracy to murder, and firearms and explosives offences. Charges were brought following a new investigation by detectives from the Historical Enquiries Team. Some 30,000 pages of material and 760 interview tapes have been amassed from interviews with him.