South East Antrim faction protecting Sewell in Maghaberry prison while he serves life sentence for murder of Ian Ogle
Sewell, a one-time senior figure in the East Belfast UVF crime gang, is almost a year into a life sentence for the brutal murder of prominent loyalist Ian Ogle in 2019.
Sewell is a divisive figure and is thought to have been concerned for his safety because of his close association with East Belfast but also his role in the Ogle murder.
It is understood he has found sanctuary with SEA, who have told him they have his back while he’s in Maghaberry.
Having been cast aside by alleged East Belfast UVF chief Stephen Matthews, according to sources, he is not welcome on the UVF wing and has turned to SEA.
Matthews denies links to criminality.
Loyalist sources say Sewell’s drug-dealing connections with elements of the Kinahan gang – who also supply SEA – smoothed his path.
At one stage he was also close to former SEA stalwart Adrian Price.
Price was SEA’s kingpin in north Down but was forced to flee his Newtownards bolthbole after he was disowned by UDA brigadier Gary Fisher, but Sewell managed to maintain his links with the breakaway unit.
At one stage Sewell was seen as the natural successor to Stephen Matthews, it is claimed.
Sewell headed a breakaway unit inside the organised crime gang and was prepared to challenge the leadership.
There was a level of disquiet at the iron fist of the leadership’s control and Sewell saw an opportunity.
It was intensified when Matthews allegedly stood him down in February 2019, a month after the Ogle murder.
East Belfast UVF came under fire for the involvement of members in the murder, and Matthews hoped that expelling or standing down a number of people believed to have been involved would restore the group’s reputation.
Sewell was the highest profile casualty but, despite being a major suspect in the Ogle killing, he went on the offensive.
Initially he fled to Benidorm in Spain and defied repeated orders to return from his sun-kissed bolthole.
Stephen Matthews
Assassin Sewell was once one of Matthews’ most trusted lieutenants and was so close to the East Belfast boss that he was dubbed ‘The Child’.
He was one of the chosen few who had Matthews’ complete trust but the relationship soured amid growing unrest at the UVF’s continued involvement in the drugs trade and campaigns of intimidation – not to mention the Ogle murder.
Sewell is believed to have sanctioned a number of attacks, with residents and veteran members in the Newtownards Road having grown increasingly disillusioned and angry.
According to sources, Matthews made his move against Sewell in an attempt to stem the rising tide of resentment.
Such was the extent of the breakdown in their relationship that Sewell was convinced he would be in danger should he ever set foot in his home city.
However, with increased police scrutiny on East Belfast UVF, Matthews could not make a move and Matthews’ arrest and subsequent charges in relation to an alleged paramilitary show of strength in Pitt Park in 2020 further curtailed any prospect of action.
Sewell is one of five people convicted of the Ogle murder.
Ian Ogle
Mr Ogle was 45 when he was beaten and stabbed 11 times just yards from his Cluan Place home in the east of the city in January 2019.
Sewell and Jonathan Brown had already pleaded guilty to murder by the time three others – Glenn Rainey, Walter Ervine and Robert Spiers – came to be sentenced last November.
On the evening Mr Ogle was attacked, he and his son had been involved in an assault on another man on the Beersbridge Road.
The judge said this had been a precipitating factor in the fatal attack later that night.
CCTV footage indicated Mr Ogle had been the victim of a 30-second attack.
Witnesses said he was attacked with a baton and a knife, and his head was stamped upon.
A local pastor Kevin Sambrook, who had been speaking with Mr Ogle before the attack and gave evidence during the trial, described the killers as acting “like a pack of hyenas”.