Ex-officer claims over a loyalist paramilitary weapons find more than 30 years ago beyond belief, the Court of Appeal ruled

They dismissed his appeal against conviction on two counts of withholding information contrary to the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Lord Justice Treacy said: “The combination of the Ministry of Defence responses, together with the absence of any such independent corroborative evidence, leads to the conclusion that the appellant’s evidence is not capable of belief.”

Jamison, 66, was arrested after rifles and a shotgun were discovered in the pit area of a car repair business run by a co-defendant at Centurion Street in Belfast in December 1990.

The garage boss told police that he had been threatened by a known UVF member into keeping “some stuff” at the premises.

He admitted possessing firearms and making property available for terrorist purposes.

Jamison, who previously served as a member of the RUC Reserve during the 1970s, was a part-time helper in the garage at the time of the weapons seizure.

During police interviews he admitted hearing the operator of the business and the loyalist paramilitary in a conversation believed to be about guns.

In September 1991 Jamison pleaded guilty to withholding information that a suspected UVF member was going to store firearms at the garage, and that a gun was kept there earlier the same year.

He was sentenced to two years imprisonment.

The sentence was suspended for two years.

Appealing the conviction, Jamison attempted to use fresh evidence which did not feature at his trial - namely his alleged role as an undercover agent who informed police about the guns.

Refusing to admit the fresh evidence on the grounds that it could not be believed, the court identified no basis for questioning the safety of his conviction.