Loyalist paramilitaries bombed a pensioner's home in Northern Ireland in an attempt to frighten a key witness out of testifying at a court trial, police said today.
Detectives believe the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) threw a blast device at the house in Larne, Co Antrim, overnight.
A retired businessman, who runs a Christian mission in the town, his wife and son were asleep and escaped injury when bedroom windows on the property at Upper Cairncastle Road shattered in the explosion.
The attack is understood to be linked to a serious assault on a man in the nearby Newtownabbey area.
With at least one man charged in connection with the beating, a series of threats have been issued against the family targeted.
Even though police stressed none of those who lived in the house were involved in the court action, it is understood prosecutors plan to call a relative to the witness box.
Ruling out a sectarian motive, a Police Service of Northern Ireland spokesman confirmed the UVF was being blamed.
Loyalist sources claimed the UVF did not sanction the bombing, with senior members of the paramilitary group said to be incensed by the strike.
Neighbours were stunned that the family, who are well known in the area, had been attacked.
Mr Danny O'Connor, an SDLP member of the Larne District Policing Partnership, said: "This is a genuine Christian man and the people in this town are outraged. This shows this organisation for the lowlife they are. These people are not patriots, they are scumbags."
Mr David Ervine, leader of the UVF-linked Progressive Unionist Party, was scathing in his condemnation and insisted the bombing could not be justified.
PA