A convicted loyalist rioter is under threat from the UDA after being blamed for throwing a petrol bomb at the home of one of its leaders.
close associate of William ‘Dip Dip’ Beck (34) has also been expelled by the terror gang after he too was accused of involvement in the attack at Denis Cunningham’s property earlier this year.
The pair have not been seen around their usual haunts on Belfast’s Shankill Road since being threatened by the UDA.
They have both denied targeting the home of Cunningham, who leads the West Belfast UDA’s ‘C Company’ gang, but their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
“At first the UDA believed drug dealer Dee Jenkins was behind the attack, but William Beck and his close associate are getting the blame now,” a UDA source told Sunday Life.
“They’ve denied it, as you’d expect, but they aren’t taking any chances and are lying low.”
Until being blamed on petrol-bombing Cunningham’s home, William Beck’s associate was a mid-ranking UDA member.
He led a small faction of the terror group based in the lower Oldpark area, and was heavily involved in the supply of drugs.
Insiders say Mo Courtney — another veteran ‘C Company’ chief — has never liked him because of his friendship with loyalist Alan McCullough who he was convicted of killing in 2003.
“Mo’s always had it in for this fella because of his links to Alan, and he has been the most vocal in blaming him and William Beck on petrol-bombing Denis’ house,” added our source.
“As far as Denis is concerned he just wants a guarantee there will be no more attacks on his home, he’s 66 and is too old to be dealing with this nonsense.”
Like his close associate, William Beck also has links to the UDA through a conviction for taking part in a 2012 north Belfast riot organised by the gang.
He was among 21 men and women who pleaded guilty to being involved in serious sectarian violence over three nights at the Carlisle Circus roundabout that left more than 60 police officers injured.
Officers were pelted with petrol bombs, bricks, stones and fireworks, with a judge later describing the scenes as verging on “anarchy”.
Two years ago William Beck was accused of spray-painting disparaging graffiti around the Shankill about ex-UDA leader Dee Coleman, however he denied the allegation.
In an appeal for information about the petrol-bomb attack on Denis Cunningham’s home, a PSNI spokeswoman said: “Police received a report on May 18 that a petrol bomb had been thrown at a property in the Agnes Street area of Belfast. Scorch and smoke damage was caused to the exterior front wall of the property. Inquiries are ongoing.”