Former paramilitaries back plans to convert Crumlin Road court into hotel

Two former paramilitaries have backed a plan to turn the Belfast court where they were convicted of terrorism offences into a luxury hotel.

Jim McVeigh, a former IRA car bomber, and Billy Hutchinson, a loyalist who pleaded guilty to murder, are now members of Belfast City Council which will review planning permission for the development.

Sky News was given exclusive access as the two men walked through the complex, searching for the underground cells where they were previously locked up.

The Crumlin Road courthouse closed in 1998, and since then arson attacks and vandalism have turned it into a derelict eyesore.

The roof caved in, meaning that it was open to the elements. Trees and bushes now fill the rooms and corridors, and the two councillors had to clamber over rubble and vegetation to view the building.

The last time Jim McVeigh was in the court, he was convicted for possession of explosives and conspiracy to murder.

He was sentenced to 24 years in jail, and later became the commander of IRA inmates in the Maze Prison.

He and his colleagues were released under the terms of the Good Friday peace agreement and he is now Sinn Fein's leader on Belfast City Council.

Billy Hutchinson was a leader of the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison for murdering two Catholic men.

Both men were once deadly enemies, but as paramilitaries-turned-politicians they now find themselves in agreement over the future of the court where they were sentenced.

Mr Hutchinson was shocked at the state of the building.

"Coming back in and seeing this place in the shape it's in. It's heart-breaking because this should have been preserved," he said.

Mr McVeigh will not say which buildings were targets for his car bombs, but hotels - especially Belfast's Europa Hotel - were regularly attacked. He recognises the irony of the position he now finds himself in.

"The IRA had what it described as an economic bombing campaign, the primary objective of which was to cause as much financial cost to the British exchequer as we possibly could," he said.

"But we're well beyond that now I'm glad to say. We're now trying to renovate the hotels and build new hotels, not blow them up."

There have been no objections to the development raised by groups representing victims of violence. Building and staffing the hotel will bring jobs to a deprived area.

The jail opposite the courthouse where prisoners were held on remand has already been converted into a successful tourist attraction.

Billy Hutchinson told Sky News: "This about the future. Everybody in this country has a past. I'm not particularly interested in what that past is.

"What I want to see is what they want to do for the future and how we actually work here."

Lawrence Kenwright, whose Signature Living group bought the site for half a million pounds, is confident that the hotel can be a success, despite the cost of restoring the building.

"Our hotels are hotels that tell a story and I don't think there's a better story to be told than the one that resonates with this building," he said.

"So I think you need to see beyond the dereliction, you need to see beyond the tough task that lies before us, and then what lays ahead of us with regard to the stories we can tell, which creates the interest and intrigue that ultimately will make this a successful hotel."

Some of the cells and courtroom may be retained as a part of the hotel development. Jim McVeigh says he hopes it will be done in a way that everyone impacted by The Troubles will appreciate.

"I lost very good friends during the course of the conflict. There have been very many victims on all sides, British soldiers, police officers, IRA volunteers, loyalists and of course the most tragic of all, innocent civilians," he said.

"Of course I have a great deal of sympathy for the terrible grief that they expressed and are probably still expressing.

"This needs to be restored in a way which is thoughtful and considerate. I hope the stories that are told won't be crass or trivialised.

"It was a real conflict. Real people were killed. Real people were hurt. But that happened on all sides. Thankfully we're in a better place.

"Maybe the renovation of this particular institution is maybe a symbol of how far we've come, and maybe where we want to go."