Gilmour, the boy racer who 'fell in with a bad crowd'.

Garfield Gilmour, the grammar school- educated man who played a vital role in the UVF petrol bomb attack which killed the three young Quinn brothers, claimed he was an unwilling participant who was left horrified by the tragedy.

While choosing to remain silent as he sat expressionless in the dock at Coleraine Courthouse, his lawyers described him as a hard-working family man, dragged down by others working to a terrorist agenda.

The son of a civil servant and a nurse, 24-year-old Gilmour worked long hours selling farming machinery, occupying a world far removed from that of the men he named as being members of the outlawed loyalist terror group, the Ulster Volunteer Force.

The trial judge, Lord Justice McCollum, heard Gilmour portrayed as "an individual ill-equipped by background and lifestyle to cope with individuals with whom he was dealing and the circumstances which he would inevitably eventually have to deal with."

But when he jailed him yesterday for his part in the grudge attack, he said Gilmour was "an accomplished liar".

One former pupil at Dalriada Grammar School in St James Road, Ballymoney, said: "He came from a good, middle-class background - his father is a very well-respected man.

"He never mentioned anything to do with the UVF, although I didn't know him that well because he was a couple of years above me at school.

"After school he played for the local rugby club in Ballymoney. I don't think he was ever in trouble, but he liked driving around in his car with the music blaring out. He was a bit of a boy racer if you like."

Another said: "It sounds like he was sucked into it. A classic case of becoming involved in the wrong company. The whole thing is just really sad."

Gilmour told the court that he only became involved with the alleged UVF ringleader, Johnny McKay, after getting back together with his girlfriend.

Ms Christine Lofthouse, with whom Gilmour was living at the time of the arson attack, had met him a few months earlier and told him that their former relationship had resulted in him being the father of her three- year-old daughter Joanne.

It was at Ms Lofthouse's house in the Newhill Park area of Ballymoney that detectives, while questioning her and Gilmour, discovered items of UVF memorabilia and a machete hidden under the bed.

During 19 interviews with detectives, Gilmour continually denied being a member of the outlawed loyalist terror group. The spiky bleached blond- haired defendant claimed he knew McKay, as well as Raymond and Ivan Parke, were members because at one point he had turned down their invitation to join, and said he did not harbour any resentment of Catholics.

Gilmour said he was scared of the UVF men, and had begged his girlfriend to no longer see McKay, but she refused.

Fifteen months after the attack, which caused revulsion on both sides of the sectarian divide, the boys' deaths have made little lasting impact, according to neighbours.

Conditions for Catholics living in Ballymoney's predominantly Protestant Carnany estate remain deeply oppressive.

Loyalist flags are a constant intimidatory reminder to the handful of nationalist residents, as are the red, white and blue painted kerbstones which are a common feature in many loyalist areas of Northern Ireland.

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Title Annotation:	Foreign News
Publication:	The Birmingham Post (England)
Date:	Oct 30, 1999
Words:	545
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