Wife-beating loyalist burst into tears over fear of attacks after prison move

Thompson Beckett is now a laughing stock among criminals over his antics at Maghaberry Prison earlier this month.

The 44-year-old is serving a two-year sentence for a string of drink and drug-fuelled assaults on his ex-wife Dawn Higgins that left her needing surgery.

Before being caged, Beckett had close ties to the East Antrim UVF, using these connections to intimidate others.

A man who he wrongly identified as a drug dealer to the terror gang, and who it ‘fined’ thousands of pounds, is currently behind bars at Magilligan Prison.

When Beckett was informed by jail staff that he was being transferred there from Maghaberry, he broke down crying over fears he could be beaten up.

But the thug’s tears failed to stop the move, with prison sources revealing that he is now so scared he barely leaves his cell.

The Prison Service would not be drawn on Beckett’s transfer, saying it never comments on individual inmates.

However insiders were more talkative, saying: “Thompson Beckett is a laughing stock among the inmates in both prisons.

“He acts the hardman, but it’s all front.

“He started crying when he was told he was being transferred from Maghaberry, and was whinging about how he could be attacked.

“That’s why he hardly leaves his cell in Magilligan. He is terrified of another inmate who he falsely told the UVF was a drug dealer.”

Cowardly Beckett identified the man as a drug pusher in a desperate bid to avoid a UVF punishment-style beating in October 2020.

But he was summoned to a meeting in a Co Antrim social club where masked members of the terror gang beat him with bats, breaking several ribs in the process.

It was later the same month that the bully-boy beat up ex-wife Dawn outside her home in the Ratchoole estate in Newtownabbey.

Horrified neighbours called the police after seeing him trail his victim onto the street by the hair and punching her in the face, leaving injuries that required stitches and dental surgery.

Beckett ended up pleading guilty to another four assaults on Dawn on dates between June and October 2020.

Two of the worst occurred after an Eleventh Night bonfire, with the husband-from-hell arriving home drunk and beating his wife mercilessly.

Beckett was jailed for two years in January for the campaign of domestic violence and ordered to spend another two years on probation when he is freed in 2023.

The court was told that he is a drug and alcohol addict who was downing a bottle of whiskey a day prior to his arrest.

A witness to Beckett’s October 2020 attack on Dawn told Sunday Life: “He held that girl’s hand from inside his car and dragged her body along the road.

“We were in total shock at what we were seeing. When Beckett eventually let her go, the blood was running out her head. Kids were out playing in the street. He could easily have killed one of them as well as Dawn.”