One of the chief suspects in the double murder of two men in Belfast five years ago has slashed a County Louth businessman in a bar in Dundalk. The man, from the Ardoyne area of North Belfast, fled to Dundalk following the double murder of Belfast men Eddie Burns and Joe Jones in Belfast on March 12 2007.

Eddie Burns and Joe Jones were murdered by a CIRA gang who were captured on CCTV drinking heavily and taking drugs in bars in the west of the city just hours before the murders.

Eddie Burns was abducted and shot dead by the gang close to the Falls Road while Joe Jones was lured to Elmfield St in Ardoyne where he was badly beaten before being killed with a spade and his body dumped in an entry.

Three men suspected of involvement in the murders fled to the Irish Republic. A fourth man present at the scene of the murder of Eddie Burns later testified against a West Belfast man Gerard Mackin in a court in Dublin.

Mackin was found guilty of the murder of Mr Burns but later released on appeal.

Two of the murder suspects are living in the Dundalk area while another North Belfast man, believed to have ordered the murders, is living in Dublin.

The Dundalk-based men are believed to be involved in tiger kidnappings, extortion and the drugs trade in the border town.

A North Belfast man living in Dundalk told the North Belfast News that the attack on the local businessman is only the latest in a long line of incidents involving the Ardoyne man linked to the double murder.

“This guy was in the bar with a number of associates who are all heavily involved in crime in the Dundalk area.

“Some of these men are running with the INLA in the town and they have been involved in extortion, tiger kidnappings, assaults and drug dealing.

“The Ardoyne man, who is believed to have been involved in both the murders of Eddie Burns and Joe Jones, broke a glass without warning and slashed and seriously injured a customer in the bar, a local businessman.

“The Ardoyne man and another member of the gang came back to the bar the next day and warned people about making a complaint to the gardaí.

“ The whole incident is on CCTV but these guys seem to think they can just do what they like.”

Peter Jones, whose brother Joe was murdered by the former CIRA gang, said both the Jones and Burns families had told Gardaí in 2007 that they feared that if the killers weren’t brought to justice they would hurt someone else.

“We were always worried that given the barbaric nature of the killings of Eddie and Joe that these people would hurt some other family,” said Peter Jones.

“We told the gardaí that we believed these people were psychopaths and that they needed to bring them to book.

“To date they seem to be able to do what they like which raises a whole series of other questions about possible involvement of the intelligence services.

“How many people are these men going to be allowed to kill or injure before police or gardaí move on them?”