A former British soldier cleared two weeks ago of murdering a high-profile Catholic human rights lawyer was shot dead in Belfast on Wednesday, BBC Television reported.
William Stobie, a former police informer and a self-confessed quartermaster for the Protestant Ulster Defence Association (UDA) paramilitary group, was gunned down outside his home in north Belfast.
Northern Irish police confirmed a man had been shot dead at close range outside an apartment block but would not confirm the victim's identity. Up to five shots were thought to have been fired.
"This was another dreadful murder in Belfast," Alan McQuillan, assistant chief constable of the province's police force, told reporters.
Stobie's partner, who was inside the flats at the time, was said to be unharmed but distraught, a spokeswoman said.
Two weeks ago Stobie was found not guilty of the 1989 killing of pro-republican lawyer Pat Finucane, who was shot dead by pro-British "loyalist" gunmen in one of the most controversial murders in 30 years of violence in the British-ruled province.
The trial collapsed when a key prosecution witness failed to give evidence.
Last week republican leader Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army guerrilla group, called for an international public inquiry into Finucane's death, saying security forces had colluded with the loyalist gunmen.
British police have denied any involvement in Finucane's murder.
Media reports said Stobie had a number of enemies among loyalist guerrillas because of his role as a double agent, as well as among republican groups because of the Finucane allegations.
Journalist Ed Maloney, a friend of Stobie's, told the BBC Stobie had been warned by security forces recently he was on a loyalist "death list".
"The UDA killed this man this morning," he said.
© Reuters
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