A FORMERLY successful West Belfast businessman is facing eviction from his home in a dispute with the Inland Revenue after he was declared bankrupt.

Malachy Turner from Andersonstown was forced to close his restaurant – Ribs and Bibs in South Belfast – following a campaign of loyalist intimidation. It culminated in a hammer attack at the Botanic Avenue premises in which he narrowly escaped with his life. Now, he is penniless and facing eviction from his home.

In 2013, Malachy opened the doors of Carlito's, which later become Ribs and Bibs, before the demands for money started to roll in from loyalist paramilitaries in nearby Sandy Row. When he made it clear he wasn’t paying up, the intimidation started, and by the time he closed up five years later he’d been subjected to dozens of threats.

“There were regular calls, meat was going missing," explained Malachy. "They wanted anything they could sell. My car windows were smashed. This guy came flying in one night with a knife looking for me."

In 2016, Malachy was declared bankrupt in a dispute over building maintenance. When word spread that he was having financial issues, suppliers demanded cash payments.

“I had to pay cash, so I had to have a lot of money on the premises. That is when the threats really intensified," he said. “They threatened me saying they were going to burn the restaurant with me in it. They threatened they were going to put me out of business."

By 2018, Malachy had enough, with the level of intimidation forcing him to shut up shop.

“I said I’ll just sell the thing. I wanted out of it,” he added. “No doubt about it, I was intimidated out of that business. It was a hate crime.

“I closed it at Christmas and a few weeks later I was down at the restaurant and these two guys flew in with hoods on and baseball bats and started lashing me. There were two other guys outside in the entry. They busted my head and the side of my ear, cracked a few ribs and my legs were badly bruised. I must have been lying on that floor for two or three hours."

Shortly after that incident, Malachy was declared bankrupt and now faces the threat of losing his Saintfield home to the Insolvency Service. South Belfast SDLP MP Claire Hanna has taken up his case in a bid to finding a resolution.

"There are mitigating circumstances around why I was forced to close my business," he continued. "I just want to be left alone. I want my home to be left alone. I need the bankruptcy rescinded. Even today, I am still being hounded to sell the house and present money to them.

"I am a living victim. There are nights I think of just giving up and then a voice tells me to keep fighting. I have been through masses of counselling. Every time the postman comes, I am dreading receiving that final letter demanding my house."

A spokesperson for the Department for Economy said: “It would be inappropriate for the Department to comment upon any live or ongoing case.”