By Ashleigh McDonald in the Belfast Telegraph 4 December 2008:

A witness in a murder trial has been accused of “pointing the finger of blame” at a former friend to “save his own skin”.

Mark Burcombe was also accused of taking part in the murder of Portadown teenagers Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine in February 2002.

The teenagers were lured from a house in Tandragee to a lonely country road on the outskirts of the town early on February 19 where they were then knifed to death.

Mr Burcombe was present at the scene but denies involvement in the murders. He was initially charged with the double killing but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, turned Queen’s evidence and is now giving evidence against a former co-accused.

The 28-year old — who admitted he was a supporter but denied being a member of the UVF — was giving evidence for the third day at Belfast Crown Court yesterday.

He claims he was present when the victims were murdered by Steven Leslie Brown, also known as Steven Revels and Noel Dillon.

Brown (28) from Castle Place in Castlecaulfield denies the murder charges while Mr Dillon took his own life in 2005.

Defence barrister John McCrudden accused Mr Burcombe of “blackening” Brown’s name by “telling a pack of lies” about the events leading to the murders, the killings and the aftermath of the brutal slaughter of Andrew (19) and David (18)

Accusing Mr Burcombe of being directly involved in the murders, Mr McCrudden asked the witness “did you hold him (David) down for your UVF friends?” to which Mr Burcombe replied “no, no way”.

The barrister also suggested Mr Burcombe was lying about Brown’s involvement because “you are trying to save your own skin”. The witness answered “that’s not true”.

Mr Burcombe told the trial that while he didn’t see Andrew being murdered, he was around five feet from David when he was attacked by Brown and Mr Dillon.

When asked by the barrister “why did you not stop it?” Mr Burcombe said “because I saw the knife and I was shocked at seeing the knife”.

Mr Burcombe claims that as he, Brown and Mr Dillon drove back to Brown’s house after the murders, Brown told him he would kill him if he spoke about what he had seen.

Mr Burcombe went to the PSNI in November 2005 when he gave police an account of what happened. He has already admitted lying to police in 2005.

He denied the account he is giving in court was at the behest of the UVF. The trial continues.

(See a similar article on the BBC here.)