There is fresh speculation that the INLA murdered two West Belfast men three years ago after it emerged that a man convicted for one of the murders is serving time on the paramilitary group’s wing in Portlaoise Prison.

Gerard Mackin, from the Whiterock area but with an address at Raheen Close, Tallaght in Dublin, was jailed for life by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin in November of 2008 after he was found guilty of the murder of Belfast taxi driver Eddie Burns.

Mr Burns was one of two local men murdered in Belfast in the early hours of March 12, 2007. 

The body of the 36-year-old, originally from the Grosvenor Road but who had been living in Ardoyne, was found in a car park in the grounds of St Gall’s GAC in Milltown row after having been shot once in the head.

A second man, Joseph Jones, aged 38 and from Colinbrook Avenue in Poleglass, was discovered in Elmfield Street in the Ardoyne area on the same day.  Mr Jones had “severe head injuries” having been savagely beaten with a spade.

At the time there was widespread speculation that the INLA killed the two dissident republicans, but an INLA source assured the Andersonstown News then that the group had no involvement in the murder.

The killings have subsequently been put down to a falling-out between members of the Continuity IRA in the city. However, it has since emerged that Mackin has been accepted on to the E4 landing at Portlaoise Prison which is an INLA wing, calling into question the INLA claim that they had no involvement in the murders. 

Mackin opted for trial in the Republic under the Criminal Law Jurisdiction Act of 1976, which allows suspects to be tried in the Republic for alleged offences in Britain or Northern Ireland.

The court heard evidence from Damien O’Neill from Beechmount, who was injured on the same night after suffering gunshot wounds.

Mr O’Neill said he pleaded with Gerard Mackin not to shoot Mr Burns, who was lying on the ground pleading for his own life.

“Eddie pleaded again and told him he wanted to go back to his kids and he had a heart problem,” Mr O’Neill said at the time.  “I said ‘Gerard don't do it, don't do it.’ He (Mackin) just walked over and shot Eddie in the back of the head.”

Mr O’Neill said Mackin then turned the gun on him, shooting him in the arm and neck before the gun jammed and Mackin drove away, leaving him to stagger to the main road to get help.

It is also believed that Terry McConnell, from Tullymore Gardens, is also serving his time on the E4 landing after being sentenced last week after being found guilty of unlawfully possessing explosive materials at an apartment in Dublin. McConnell was questioned in relation to the Burns-Jones murders in 2007, increasing further suspicion that the INLA were involved in the murder.

A spokesman for the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP), the political wing of the INLA, confirmed that Gerard Mackin is on E4 in Portlaoise Prison.

“E4 landing in Portlaoise Prison is an INLA landing,” he said. 

“For over 10 years non-aligned republicans have been allowed on to the wing as guests. Gerard Mackin is one of those guests.”