Paisley jnr faces big bill over court ruling

Published on Tuesday 30 June 2009 21:51

NORTHERN Ireland Assembly member Ian Paisley Jnr was facing a £50,000-plus bill last night for refusing to reveal the name of a confidential source.

The North Antrim representative, who was fined 5,000 in Belfast High court for defying a court order compelling him to unmask his informant, acknowledged he stood to lose at least ten times that amount when legal costs were factored in.

The son of former Northern Ireland First Minister Ian Paisley snr was found in contempt of court by judge Mr Justice Gillen for not passing on the identity of a prison officer to a public inquiry investigating the murder of loyalist paramilitary Billy Wright inside the Maze jail in 1997.

The officer, a constituent of the Democratic Unionist MLA, had told him about a file destruction policy within the Prison Service in the wake of the killing of the LVF leader by INLA inmates, and indicated that the practice may not have been above board. While he escaped a jail term, the one-time Stormont Junior minister, who commands a salary of around 55,000 as an MLA and agriculture committee chairman, admitted the court had dealt him a "financial kick in the teeth".

"I think it's a very rare commodity in the world today that someone in public life is prepared to keep their word," he said, giving his reaction outside court flanked by his father.