A FORMER Fermanagh Unionist Councillor has been described as “a leading member of the UDA” who enlisted the help of a British Army officer to enable the Loyalist paramilitary group blow up Aghalane Bridge in 1972. Jack Leahy, a well-known publican in Lisnaskea and a member of the Ulster Unionist group on Fermanagh District Council, was identified by Captain Vernon Rees in an audio interview taped by the Imperial War Museum. Rees admitted that he agreed to Leahy’s request to keep troops away from the bridge for four hours while Loyalists bombed Aghalane. Furthermore, Rees – responsible for British Army security along the south Fermanagh Border in the early 1970s – passed his agreement through Special Branch.