The fiancée of convicted killer David ‘Monster’ Thompson branded his no-show bro Gary ‘The Gimp’ Thompson a “lying scumbag” this week.
That’s after Gary – sentenced to seven years for his role in a robbery which left a businessman dead – failed to turn up at court to give evidence against his brother, who he’d accused of punching and strangling him, despite him promising police he’d be there.
And that’s exactly what David Thompson – who’s been locked up for almost a year because of the allegations – and his soon-to-be bride Natalie Currie believed would happen.
Despite being acquitted, ‘Monster’ must now wait for an emergency parole board hearing to see if he can be released – and that could take several weeks.
It was revealed at Christmas of 2023, while still serving his life sentence for the 2001 murder of Ryan Neill, how David Thompson went viral on social media when a video was posted of him getting down on one knee and proposing to his partner Natalie in Belfast city centre.
As reported last year, 44-year-old ‘Monster’ was forced to return to prison in March after his brother Gary made serious assault allegations against him, which meant his licence was revoked.
Sunday World reported how ‘Monster’ had told friends he had been “stitched-up” by his brother, who knew he’d have his licence revoked if he was facing criminal charges.
On Monday the assault and strangulation charges were chucked out by a judge after Gary failed to turn up at Ballymena Magistrates Court to give evidence and stand over his claims.
Yet, curiously, Gary did turn up at the same courthouse 24 hours later to receive a driving ban after he pleaded guilty to careless driving following an incident where he crashed his car into a hedge.
Gary ‘The Gimp’ Thompson
On Tuesday, Natalie Currie wasted no time sticking the boot into Gary on her publicly available social media platforms.
Taking to Facebook and TikTok, Natalie wanted to let the world know she and David had been proven right.
“Spread the word,” she posted. “My boy’s coming home. Not guilty/acquitted of all the charges. Buzzin’ the truths out now, it’s been a long ten months from a lyning [sic] scumbag Gary the Gimp.
“Justice at last for David. He’s no angel as you all know but behind bars for ten months for a crime he didn’t commit.”
And she followed up on TikTok with a remarkable video which showed her car driving alongside the motorway at the same time her soon-to-be-hubby was driven along beside her in a prison van on the way to court.
She accompanied that with a pictures of the couple sharing kisses as the hit song I’m Coming Home by singer Skylar Grey plays in the background.
Antrim brothers David and Gary had been publicly feuding for years after David gave a statement to the PSNI that helped send his little brother Gary to jail for seven years for his role in the robbery and subsequent murder of Chinese takeaway owner Nelson Cheung in Antrim in 2015.
David ‘Monster’ Thompson
It had looked like the pair had patched things up when David was released on licence two years ago.
David had even lent Gary some money after he hit hard times when he was put out of his Lisburn home after falling out with paramilitaries over a drug debt.
But the pair fell out again and when David was sent back to jail.
As reported here, David told pals his brother had “stitched him up” and sources close to him have told us things got very nasty because Gary was “jealous” of his brother’s new relationship with Natalie.
A source told us a few months ago: “David is telling everyone his brother has made this all up to get him sent back to jail.
“These two should just never be in the same room again – they just can’t get on. But if Gary has lied about being attacked by his brother, he’s really done a number on him because he’s been stuck in prison for ten months as a result.
“It’s ironic Gary complained all those years about David touting on him about the Nelson Cheung case and then he touts on his brother about being assaulted.
“David is adamant he has completely made the allegations up. David says no assault took place and he believes his brother has made this up because he knew how the life sentence system works and that David would end up back behind bars.”
David was due to go on trial facing two counts of common assault and one of non-fatal strangulation of his brother Gary on March 10 and 11 last year but, despite assuring the police last week that he would attend, he was a no-show at Ballymena Magistrates Court on Monday.
The court heard claims that according to 42-year-old Gary, the brothers were at their mother’s house when his older brother punched him twice to the back of the head.
According to defence counsel Chris Sherrard, however, his claims “are false and uncorroborated” and were made up after David Thompson had called in a debt owed to him.
The prosecutor had asked for the case to be adjourned but arguing against that, Mr Sherrard revealed that even though David Thompson was not formally charged until last month, his prison release licence had been revoked at the time the assault allegations were made.
“What is he on licence for?” District Judge Nigel Broderick asked, to which the defence barrister replied: “Murder, and he has served his tariff in relation to that.”
Mr Sherrard told the judge his client “is anxious for the contest to go ahead” because it is on foot of the charges that the parole board revoked his life licence.
He further revealed that at the time of the allegations, Thompson had been undergoing a pre-release scheme where he had been residing at a prison service accommodation in north Belfast but the allegations had brought that to a halt.
The message Natalie wrote on her Instagram page
Emphasising that it was only the assault and strangulation charges which were holding Thompson in custody, the barrister told the court there was a ruling from the Parole Commissioners that in the event of the case being dismissed or the judge recording an acquittal, the panel could meet again to reinstate the pre-release scheme.
Mr Sherrard also argued that having regard to the “triangulation of interests” between the defence, PPS and justice, the defence had brought three witnesses to court, including a lady from Scotland to give rebuttal evidence.
One of those witnesses was to be Natalie Currie.
Judge Broderick said he had heard how it was only last week when a police officer physically called at the home of Gary Thompson, that he confirmed he would attend but, despite those assurances, he had not and was not answering his phone.
On the other side of the coin was a defendant who had brought witnesses to court and who had been held in custody for the last ten months with his licence revoked, solely as a result of the charges against him.
He said that, taking all matters into account, he wouldn’t grant the prosecution application for an adjournment and accordingly, after the PPS offered no evidence in the case, the judge marked them as dismissed.
But a day later Gary Thompson did manage to find Ballymena Courthouse when he attended to be banned from driving for two months and fined £150.
Thompson, from Ashmount Gardens in Lisburn, admitted that on February 10 last year he was driving carelessly on the Niblock Road in Antrim.
Thompson had stuck his car in a hedge and told cops he’d crashed after a lit cigarette had fallen onto his lap while driving.
David Thompson was given a life sentence in 2001 for the murder of Ryan Neill in the early hours of St Patrick’s Day the previous year, and served 15 years for the killing.