Belfast man accused of making threat to have a bus station security guard shot after seeing a Glasgow Rangers image on his phone is under threat from the UDA, court told

The loyalist paramilitary organisation has imposed a prohibition on Paul Pollins entering designated neighbourhoods in the east of the city, a judge was told.

Details emerged as the 34-year-old defendant was refused bail on charges of common assault and threats to kill the Translink employee.

Pollins, of Rotterdam Court, is accused of targeting the victim at the Laganside Bus Centre on February 7 this year.

Prosecution counsel Sarah Minford claimed he was the passenger who had been verbally abusing one of the drivers while carrying a litre bottle of vodka.

At one point the security guard intervened and took out his mobile phone to call the police.

“When the male saw that he had a Rangers Football Club badge as his screensaver he began to make threats to have him shot,” Ms Minford said. “He stated that he would go to Sandy Row to have him shot dead.”

Pollins also allegedly grabbed the security guard by the throat before leaving the station.

Based on CCTV footage of the incident, he was arrested later that afternoon as the suspected perpetrator.

Pollins was released on bail at that stage, but detained again for allegedly using bricks to smash windows at three different family members’ homes in south Belfast on May 3.

He faces charges of criminal damage and possessing an article with intent to damage property in connection with those incidents.

Defence barrister Kelly Doherty confirmed he denies attacking any of the properties and also claims to have acted in self-defence at the bus station.

Pollins application for bail was opposed amid concerns he may come to harm due to the location of his proposed address.

Ms Doherty disclosed: “He accepts that he is under threat from the UDA in east Belfast, he is not allowed to enter the Orangefield or Clarawood areas.”

She argued, however, that her client’s home is not in a part of the city controlled by the paramilitary grouping.

Denying bail, Mr Justice Humphreys highlighted how Pollins previously breached a curfew by being on the city’s streets in the early hours of the morning.

“The fact that he might be more concerned about the UDA’s conditions than those of the High Court perhaps underlines the attitude he has to court orders,” the judge stated.

“This application is therefore rather hopeless and is dismissed.”