A girl-beater who didn’t wish to be moved to Magilligan Jail over fears he may very well be attacked, has been violently confronted in his cell by one other inmate.
UVF-linked Thompson Beckett — who's serving a two-year sentence within the jail for battering his ex-wife — was grabbed by the throat by James Edwards, who was caged earlier this 12 months for rioting.
This was after Edwards, who has been focused up to now by each the UVF and UDA, provided him a “honest struggle”.
Beckett declined, pleading with the 31-year-old for mercy.
Witnesses say he caught Edwards on a great day, with the north Belfast hardman agreeing to depart him alone.
“When James Edwards arrived in Magilligan one of many first issues he did was to supply Beckett a good struggle,” a supply instructed Sunday Life.
“This went on for some time earlier than Edwards lastly misplaced the pinnacle and grabbed Beckett by the throat. He known as him a ‘bullying b*****d’, and instructed him he wasn’t so robust now.
“Beckett then accused Edwards of bullying him, which is loopy when you think about Beckett is in jail for knocking lumps out of his ex-wife.”
Insiders revealed how Edwards reluctantly let go of Beckett, however warned him by no means to cross his path. “Nobody has any sympathy for him — he's hated in right here as a lot as he was on the surface.”
Beckett had been in Maghaberry, however was transferred to Magilligan. It’s understood he didn’t wish to transfer as a result of he thought he may very well be attacked within the Co Londonderry jail.
There isn't a suggestion the particular person he feared was James Edwards. Previous to being imprisoned, Beckett had a bully-boy status, utilizing his UVF hyperlinks to choose on residents of the Rathcoole property in Newtownabbey.
The 44-year-old coward used these ties to intimidate his ex-wife, who he beat so badly on a number of events that she wanted hospital surgical procedure.
She lastly went to police after an October 2020 assault throughout which Beckett dragged her alongside a street whereas dashing in his automotive, knocking her unconscious.
He's now midway by a two-year jail time period having been convicted of 4 separate
assaults on his ex-wife. Earlier than being despatched to jail, Beckett was the goal of a paramilitary assault by the UVF linked to a different matter.
Loyalists reduce all ties with him, leaving him susceptible to being confronted by criminals like James Edwards who has been the topic of UVF and UDA demise threats. Sizzling-headed Edwards was jailed for two-and-a-half years in January for participating in loyalist anti-protocol rioting in Belfast final 12 months and throwing a petroleum bomb.
He had been dwelling in Rathcoole previous to being arrested and is known to have clashed with Beckett, who on the time of the confrontation loved the safety of the UVF.
In 2018, Edwards went public on this newspaper to accuse the North Belfast UDA of heroin dealing. This was after the house of his sister within the Tigers Bay space was attacked by members of the gang.
On the time she was waking the our bodies of her two stillborn infants from the home.
A livid Edwards instructed us: “I’ll return to north Belfast when that is over and confront the lads I must confront.”