UDA members batter Ryan ‘Buster’ Johnston outside Belfast city centre pub on Twelfth
The 30-year-old, who was forced to flee his Newtownards home last year after being targeted by the UVF and UDA, was recorded lying dazed on a road outside a pub in Belfast.
Johnston’s face was left caked in his own blood after he was attacked by a UDA gang from the nearby Sandy Row area.
His dad, notorious Real UFF leader Adrian Price, is also under threat from the UVF and UDA.
The PSNI said: “Shortly before 3.45pm on July 12, we received a report that a man had been assaulted during a brawl involving a number of people outside a licensed premises in the Bedford Street area.
Johnston with dad Adrian Price
“Officers attended and the man was taken to hospital for treatment to injuries to his head.
“The man, aged in his 30s, was arrested on suspicion of disorderly behaviour, assault on police and resisting police. He has since been released on bail to be reported to the Public Prosecution Service.”
Loyalist sources told Sunday Life Johnston was set upon after the UDA realised his identity.
“They kicked the absolute s**t out of him and warned him not to go anywhere near Sandy Row,” said an insider.
Johnston is on bail over charges, which he denies, connected to last year’s loyalist feud in Newtownards.
He is accused of affray, assault on a man at Ards shopping centre and of making a threat to kill a man in Donaghadee. Police have publicly linked these incidents to a fallout between rival loyalist paramilitaries.
One on side of the dispute is the UVF and UDA, and on the other is a small faction styling itself the Real UFF, made up of former South East Antrim UDA members. Since being exiled from Newtownards under threat from the UDA and UVF, Price has been living a nomadic lifestyle, with his last known whereabouts being in the Carryduff area.
His son Buster has also been moving about to avoid attack, but loyalists say he is finding it harder to keep his head down.
“Buster likes to party and be seen out and about, so he’s much more likely to find himself in trouble like he did on the Twelfth,” explained a source. “You have to remember this is a fella who used to cruise about the place in a top-of-the-range Maserati.”
The PSNI previously impounded Johnston’s mega-bucks Maserati Quattro amid suspicions it was bought with the proceeds of crime, but were forced to hand the vehicle back after the loyalist mounted a successful court case against its seizure.