![\"Winston](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/fa4055b8-c6d0-40a1-9f01-d66e0656f5e9.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFootage recorded by officers\u2019 bodyworn cameras on the day of Irvine\u2019s arrest in June 2022, also shows his co-accused, Robin Workman, being pulled over in his red work van and being arrested and handcuffed.<\/p>\n
The two were jailed in May.<\/p>\n
Irvine was given a two and a half year sentence after he admitted a range of firearms offences.<\/p>\n
The 49-year-old, of Ballysillan Road in north Belfast, will spend half of his sentence in custody and half on licence. <\/p>\n
Workman (54), of Shore Road, Larne, was also sentenced to five years \u2013 half to be served on licence.<\/p>\n
Both men had pleaded guilty to possessing firearms and ammunition in suspicious circumstances last December.<\/p>\n
They also admitted two counts of possessing a handgun without a certificate, possessing a prohibited weapon and possessing a firearm without a certificate.<\/p>\n
Edited extracts of silent video recording the arrests of Irvine and Workman have now been released by the PSNI.<\/p>\n
Police said the audio on the footage had been removed to prevent the identification of any police officers.<\/p>\n
While undercover surveillance officers were involved in the operation, the footage shows both men were later stopped by uniformed officers who searched their vehicles before arresting them both.<\/p>\n
UVF commander Irvine can be seen sitting on a garden wall while his car is searched in the Disraeli Street area of north Belfast on Wednesday, June 8, 2022. Prior to this he had been observed meeting a man, later identified as Workman, in the Glencairn area, where, Workman placed a bag in the boot of Irvine\u2019s car.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Winston Irvine pictured in police custody. Photo: PSNI<\/p>\n
A short transcript was provided by police, who originally challenged a request by the BBC for the release of the footage.<\/p>\n
It has one police officer one asking: \u201cWhat bag was it, sorry mate?\u201d<\/p>\n
Irvine replies: \u201cIt’s that one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officer one replies \u201cThis?\u201d in relation to the Sainsbury\u2019s bag for life which can be seen in the now-open boot of the car.<\/p>\n
Police officer two then asks his colleague: \u201cYou gloves on?\u201d<\/p>\n
Officer one replies: \u201cNo mate\u201d.<\/p>\n
Officer two then asks Irvine: \u201cThe only bag that you can\u2019t account for is this Sainsbury’s one?\u201d<\/p>\n
Irvine replies: \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officer two says: \u201cYou can account for everything else?\u201d<\/p>\n
Irvine, speaking in one word answers, again says: \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officer two then appears to be speaking on a radio to superiors and says: \u201cYeah, that’s a firearm in the back of the vehicle here in the boot. I’ve just opened up the bag.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you want me to go further? I can see you have a long (a long barrelled firearm) and there’s also a short (handgun) and a number of magazines and potential ammunition.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, inside there’s a Sainsbury\u2019s bag inside that you have a duffle bag. You’ve got one long, you’ve got a short, you’ve magazines and looks like a quantity of ammunition.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you want me to search it further or hold it in place boss?\u201d<\/p>\n
The Public Prosecution Service is currently appealing Irvine\u2019s sentence, after determining it was “unduly lenient”.<\/p>\n
A judge reduced the minimum jail term after a series of references from high-profile members of civic society that praised the loyalist for his \u201cexceptional\u201d peace building work.<\/p>\n
The PSNI, unlike most other UK forces, does not currently release body-worn camera footage.<\/p>\n
However, it agreed to do so after the BBC made a request to Belfast Crown Court during the making of a Spotlight documentary, Caught: Guns In The Boot, which investigated Irvine’s arrest and its implications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Footage recorded by officers\u2019 bodyworn cameras on the day of Irvine\u2019s arrest in June 2022, also shows his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[25912,2378,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-271405","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-allison-morris","9":"tag-belfast","10":"tag-northern-ireland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114872966574555873","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}