Face of man accused of shooting ex UVF gangster in head with crossbow
Ballymena man Matthew Allison who is accused of shooting Darren Moore in the face with a crossbow.
This is the Co. Antrim man who has been accused of shooting former UVF gangster Darren Moore in the face with a crossbow.
Matthew Allison was due to apply for bail at Ballymena Magistrates Court today but defence counsel Connell Trainor confirmed the application was being withdrawn.
Allison, with an address at Glenarm Court in Ballymena, is accused of possessing a crossbow with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, wounding Moore with intent to cause GBH and attempting to wound a second man, also with intent to cause GBH, on 8 August this year.
It was reported over the weekend that 54-year-old Moore was hospitalised after he was shot in the face with a crossbow bolt.
Shocking images were circulating on social media, showing how the bolt pierced his cheek and exited just below his jawline.
Former UVF thug Darren Moore
When Allison was initially charged earlier this week, the court heard that Moore had 'released himself from hospital on Friday night' and that he had returned to collect prescribed medication.
Remanding Allison back into custody today, District Judge Nigel Broderick adjourned the case to 11 September, suggesting that if there is to be a bail application in the meantime, 'the matter can be brought forward.'
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Sunday World
a day ago
- Sunday World
Face of man accused of shooting ex UVF gangster in head with crossbow
Matthew Allison was due to apply for bail at Ballymena Magistrates Court today Ballymena man Matthew Allison who is accused of shooting Darren Moore in the face with a crossbow. This is the Co. Antrim man who has been accused of shooting former UVF gangster Darren Moore in the face with a crossbow. Matthew Allison was due to apply for bail at Ballymena Magistrates Court today but defence counsel Connell Trainor confirmed the application was being withdrawn. Allison, with an address at Glenarm Court in Ballymena, is accused of possessing a crossbow with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, wounding Moore with intent to cause GBH and attempting to wound a second man, also with intent to cause GBH, on 8 August this year. It was reported over the weekend that 54-year-old Moore was hospitalised after he was shot in the face with a crossbow bolt. Shocking images were circulating on social media, showing how the bolt pierced his cheek and exited just below his jawline. Former UVF thug Darren Moore When Allison was initially charged earlier this week, the court heard that Moore had 'released himself from hospital on Friday night' and that he had returned to collect prescribed medication. Remanding Allison back into custody today, District Judge Nigel Broderick adjourned the case to 11 September, suggesting that if there is to be a bail application in the meantime, 'the matter can be brought forward.'
Sunday World
5 days ago
- Sunday World
Drug-addled UVF mobster Darren Moore lucky to be alive after crossbow attack
The bolt pierced his cheek, exiting below the jawline, during an incident at a house in Ballymena on Friday evening Darren Moore pictured in his hospital bed today. UVF killer Darren' Judas'Moore had both his legs and arms sharttered in a savage attack last night(friday). PACEMAKER BELFAST 14/09/2011 Darren Moore arrives at Court as 14 men are appear in Belfast Court charged in connection of the Murder of Tommy English. Nine alleged UVF men, including former leading member Mark Haddock, are charged with the murder of UDA leader Tommy English in October 2000. They and another five alleged UVF men also face a range of other charges. Photo Pacemaker Press Moore pictured in his hospital bed in 2013 after a previous attack Drug-addled UVF mobster Darren Moore is in hospital after being shot in the face with a crossbow bolt, the Sunday World can reveal. The 54-year-old gangster is lucky to be alive after the bolt pierced his cheek, exiting below the jawline, during an incident at a house in Ballymena on Friday evening. We have seen evidence of how close Moore came to death. The sequence of events remains unclear but the Sunday World understands he was targeted in an ongoing dispute with rival criminals over a drug deal that had gone wrong. Sources in Ballymena have also told us the incident took place after Moore and a group of others were taking drugs — believed to be heroin and fentanyl — although there have been no reports of any drugs being recovered by police. Mark Haddock A 42-year-old man was arrested after the crossbow attack and is in PSNI custody for questioning in relation to a number of offences. Darren Moore News in 90 seconds - 10th August 2025 This latest incident is yet another stage in what has been a downward spiral for the one-time feared terror chief, who once had a stellar Irish League soccer career. In recent months he has been in the headlines for a series of shoplifting charges. Desperate to fuel his chronic drug addiction, he now has a number of convictions for stealing food and other items from supermarkets. His hauls include, on one occasion, 20 legs of lamb and variously other food items as well as bedding, pots and pans, alcohol and scented Yankee candles. It has been a dramatic fall from grace for Moore, who immediately became a target for disaffected UVF members when he was kicked out of the organisation. Terror boss John 'Bunter' Graham washed his hands of him and a price was put on his head. UVF outcast Moore is a marked man and this is not the first time has had a brush with death in recent years. Drummed out of the paramilitary organisation, he has been running the gauntlet of numerous threats to his life. Stripped of UVF protection, he has cheated death in a series of attacks, some of which have landed him in hospital. Moore pictured in his hospital bed in 2013 after a previous attack In 2013 he was left for dead after a savage attack which left him with broken legs and arms. A battered Moore was found in the grounds of a north Belfast primary school. He had been badly beaten with what police believe was a claw hammer, and had both his arms and legs broken in the vicious attack. From the heights of lifting the Irish League championship with Crusaders and lording it as a ruthless paramilitary boss, he is reduced to a broken shell of a drug addict. Moore was once king of the hill. As a leading figure in the notorious UVF unit in Mount Vernon he had a reputation for violence. Along with Mount Vernon commander Mark Haddock, he ran a highly lucrative drug-running operation and is credited with flooding north Belfast with heroin. The gang operated with impunity as they were all paid RUC Special Branch agents. The unit is believed to have been responsible for up to 14 murders in a sectarian killing spree in the 1990s and early 2000s. Many of the killings were carried out with the full knowledge of their police handlers. It was only when the wholesale collusion was uncovered by then Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan in her 2007 report that the unit was finally shut down. All members were stood down after previously being protected by the UVF leadership. It is claimed that Moore was linked to the gang who brutally murdered Raymond McCord Jnr in 1997. Raymond (22) had been summoned to a meeting at a remote quarry on the outskirts of the city. Seeking assurances from Moore — a man he considered a friend — he was encouraged to go, believing he would be on the wrong end of a punishment attack at worst. Instead he was battered to death on the orders of Haddock. Last night Raymond McCord Snr told the Sunday World he was not surprised Moore had been targeted. CCTV footage of an attack on Darren Moore 'Moore has more enemies than any man I know. He's a marked man with a bounty on his head, someone was always going to try and cash that in,' he said. 'He's a typical Mount Vernon coward, he liked to dish out violence as long as the UVF mob was with him. 'The coward he is and the organisation he belonged to are finished. He set up my son Raymond Jnr to be murdered. Whatever happens to him, he has brought on himself — he hasn't a friend in the world.' In 2018 five men were jailed for their parts in another attack on Moore as he drank in a bar in the Co. Antrim village of Doagh the previous year. Ten men were involved in what was described in court as an 'almighty beating'' and was believed to have been a revenge attack in relation to an earlier incident involving Moore. So severe was that attack, which involved the use of a claw hammer, that a baseball bat broke in two as Moore was battered while lying on the ground. Raymond McCord the father of Raymond McCord Junior The Sunday World revealed at the time that Moore had pleaded with 'Bunter' Graham to be allowed back into the UVF ranks. But having been turned down, he went to police offering himself up as a supergrass. His approaches were rejected and he was hammered. Yesterday the PSNI confirmed the incident in which Moore was shot with a crossbow. div id="qs_newsletter_sundayworld"> They said: 'Police received a report of an incident in the Glenarm Court area of Ballymena at 6.40pm on Friday, 8th August. 'One man aged in his 50s has been taken to hospital for treatment to injuries which are not believed to be life-threatening. 'A 42-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of a number of offences. 'There is no ongoing risk to the public. However, officers remain at the scene at this time.'
The Irish Sun
5 days ago
- The Irish Sun
I went from being expelled from school & jail to making £300k working 2 days a week from strip club… how ANYONE can too
Hardy reveals how he went from stacking shelves in a supermarket to running his own business - which is expected to make £2.4million this year CRACKING THE CODE I went from being expelled from school & jail to making £300k working 2 days a week from strip club… how ANYONE can too IT was while stewing in a police cell that Hardy Sidhu made the decision to turn his life around. The wayward teen, then just 15, had been expelled from three schools - including his primary school - for fighting and dealing cannabis. 12 Hardy Sidhu's business Format-3 is tipped to make £2.4m in revenue this year Credit: Supplied 12 At 15, Hardy was sent to a youth detention centre after breaking a person's jaw Credit: Supplied 12 Hardy bought multiple flashy BMWs when he hit the big time Credit: Supplied Things came to a head when he was arrested for GBH, having broken a so-called mate's jaw over a £10 debt, and sent to a young offenders institute for six months. While incarcerated, Hardy read his first book - triggering a transformation that saw his life and fortunes drastically change just a few years after being let out. On his release he went from stacking shelves at his local supermarket to raking in £300,000 a year working just two days a week, and living a party-boy lifestyle he could have once only dreamed of. Now 29, Hardy, who grew up on Hayes council estate in Hillingdon, west London, is sharing his remarkable story of redemption to encourage others to follow in his footsteps. 'No one would have believed what I managed to achieve," he tells The Sun. "Back at school my teachers had given up on me and even my parents didn't know how to deal with my destructiveness and fighting. "I was suspended from primary school at the age of 10. I mean, how the f*** do you get suspended from primary school? "That behaviour continued. I went to another school before secondary school and was kicked out in my first year. 'I was suspended loads and spent months in isolation. Everyone gave up hope - even the deputy head teacher said, 'You're not going to end up anywhere in life, you'll probably end up in prison.' 'I was fighting all the time - throwing punches, chairs, scissors, anything I could grab at teachers - because they were talking at me, not to me. I didn't know how to deal with my anger.' I'm UK's richest plumber… how I went from scrimping to afford potatoes to blowing £100m on Dubai mansions & 7* hotels Hardy admits he was "fed up of being poor" and wanted to have more cash, so he "did stupid things". Aged 15, he started dealing weed - earning up to £30 a week - to pay for fast food chicken burgers and to pitch in to support his shopkeeper parents, who had immigrated from India. It was around this time that a petty row with a friend spiralled and changed the course of Hardy's life. He recalls: 'There were arguments back and forth but it escalated. I beat the s*** out of him to assert dominance. "It was over £10 or something. He was hospitalised with a broken jaw. 'When I was arrested, it was... like an avalanche of dread. My mum was crying her head off. It made me realise, 'Oh man, this is f***ed up'.' Turning point 12 He longed to be rich from a young age because money at home was always tight Credit: Supplied Locked up with just a maths GCSE to his name, Hardy's future looked grim until a friend gifted him a book that advised 'seven tips for wealth, health and happiness'. 'I'd never read a book in my life but it clicked with me," Hardy says. "It spoke about how setting a goals plan could help you to make your own reality. 'It was a turning point in my life, and where I am today is because of that book. It made me realise I could fix my life, and I put together a 10-year plan.' Upon his release, Hardy saved £200 from his job stacking shelves at Sainsbury's to buy books about coding. When I was arrested, it was... like an avalanche of dread. My mum was crying her head off. It made me realise, 'Oh man, this is f***ed up' Hardy Sidhu He started programming websites in his spare time, charging £50 a time, before landing a £700-a-month coding job, and then a more lucrative gig in digital design. 'The guy who hired me, who remains one of my best mates, took a massive chance on me,' Hardy says. 'I didn't have the skills but he could see I had the ability.' By 18 he was earning £250 a day, and two years later he was headhunted for a firm in Sweden before moving to Amsterdam. 'I hit my 10-year goal plan,' he says. 'I'd set up a product design department with 120 people and led 12 offices by the age of 24. 'But I got to the point where I wasn't sure if the money was making me happy, so I trialled it by moving to New York on a £300,000-a-year salary, working just two days a week." 'Wolf of Wall Street' lifestyle 12 Hardy was a regular frequenter of strip clubs and would even work from them Credit: Supplied 12 Hardy says she blew through a 's*** tonne of money' partying Credit: Supplied 12 Hardy says he could be a millionaire tomorrow if he cashed out of his business Credit: Supplied While living in America he claims he lived a lifestyle not far removed from scenes in Martin Scorsese's 2013 blockbuster The Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. 'You give a kid with nothing from a council estate a load of money and wild s*** is going to happen," Hardy chuckles. 'I was constantly partying, spending £2,500 on tables, grands in strip clubs, I blew through a s*** tonne of money but thought 'F*** it, I'll make another £4,000 this week'. 'I worked from the strip club, bought loads of cars... I loved BMWs, so I bought a bunch of them - M3s, M4s - Omega and Cartier watches. I was constantly partying, spending £2,500 on tables, grands in strip clubs, I blew through a s*** tonne of money but thought 'F*** it, I'll make another £4,000 this week' Hardy Sidhu "But I was bored out of my mind and recognised being rich wasn't everything.' After returning to the UK and a stint at a start-up, he decided to challenge himself by launching his own company in 2023 called Format-3, a 'human-centred design studio'. He returned to his visualisation planning techniques and decided if he could make £1million in revenue in a year, it would become his next venture. When Hardy exceeded that target by £200,000, he became determined to make it into a world class business. Hardy Sidhu's top tips for forging success In a twist none of his teachers could have predicted, Hardy Singh has forged a successful career and made millions for his employers. He bounced back after being incarcerated and scraping just one GCSE from school after two expulsions and multiple exclusions. Now with Format-3, he's tipped to being in £2.4m in revenue this year alone and gives his tips for forging your own success. He tells us: "Everyone wants the answers to their problems. "But for some reason, they always look eternally, like going online, rather than searching internally and finding the answers within themselves. "No one talks to themselves. But I have found it can be really helpful. To become a success, you need to ask yourself those hard, difficult questions. "Things like, 'What do I enjoy?' and 'What do I want in 10 years?' "Once you work that out, you can formulate a plan, set goals and targets. And with hard work, your brain will focus on finding a way to make it a reality. "A lot of people are held back because of fear but they shouldn't be. "Don't be afraid to try something. Don't be scared. Life is not about the reward but about the journey. With that in mind, you can't go wrong." Within the last 12 months, Format-3 has grown a whopping 300 per cent and expanded into the US and Middle East, working for brands including the Natural History Museum, The DailyWire, Majid Al Futtaim and EPAY. This year it's forecast to make an eye-watering £2.4million. Hardy claims bosses admire his outspoken nature and that he has 'the balls to speak up while 40 others remain silent'. He says: 'I will tell business founders, 'That's a s*** idea', and they tell me, 'That's what makes you special Hardy, having balls'. "I credit that with being a Hayes boy.' Proud and content 12 He now lives a different live as a married father with a five-year-old son Credit: Supplied Now a father, Hardy lives a drastically different lifestyle to his violent youth and wild lifestyle in his early 20s, claiming he's more content and focused than ever. And he is turning his attention to creating a 'Silicon Valley in the UK' - similar to the California tech titan hub - and launch a design school in his familial native home of India to give people there better opportunities. 'If I wanted to be a millionaire I'd cash out of my business now, but that doesn't interest me anymore," he says. "I want to help people in my motherland and revive the UK tech sector." He adds: 'My mum asked me what I'm most proud of. It made me realise, I was this kid with no academics, who was kicked out of multiple schools and had never read a book. 'So to achieve what I have, thanks to all this knowledge I've accumulated is remarkable. "I've made it and found out what makes me happy. But what I'm most proud of is still being alive.' 12 Hardy as a toddler with his dad and grandfather, who were deeply concerned by his behaviour as a youngster Credit: Supplied 12 Hardy Sidhu had a 'partyboy lifestyle' similar to film The Wolf of Wall Street after making his fortune Credit: Supplied 12 He's lived in Amsterdam, Sweden, Germany, New York and Tennessee Credit: Supplied
