Belfast Telegraph, 31 January 2009:

A man accused of a notorious double murder has labelled evidence from a woman he allegedly confessed to as “nonsense”.

Giving evidence at Belfast Crown Court on his own behalf, Steven Leslie Brown, 28, denied that he had confessed to a woman known only as witness F of murdering teenagers Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine.

He told defence QC John McCrudden he had told the woman that he had been charged with the murders at the time but that the charges had been subsequently dropped.

Brown, also known as Revels, from Castlecaulfield, claimed that what witness F told cops was taken out of context, telling the lawyer her allegations were based on what he told her the police had put to him during interviews.

Diplock, no jury trial judge Mr Justice Gillen has already heard that in her statement, witness F claims Brown told her one of the teenagers had tried to get away when he saw his friend being attacked but that “I got him and cut his throat and stabbed him”.

The statement continues: “He was begging for his life but Steven said he stabbed him and stabbed him and stabbed him until he was dead.”

However, Brown denied he had made any confessions claiming instead that her allegations were based on questions which the police to him “over and over and over again”

It is the Crown case that the victims were lured to their deaths after Andrew allegedly made a disparaging comment about the murder of Richard Jameson described in court as a ‘commander of the UVF in Portadown’.

Andrew, 19, and David, 18, were then driven to a remote road on the outskirts of Tandragee where they were repeatedly stabbed. They suffered multiple stab wounds including horrific injuries to their throats and stomachs.

The trial continues.