When interviewed he bizarrely claimed he was taking revenge for the high-profile murder of the black American
This is the ear-biting serial thug who’s back behind bars for kicking a PSNI vehicle and telling cops it was “payback for George Floyd”.
Martin Valliday is a notorious criminal who has tortured the town of Antrim where he lives for years, so it surprising to see him striking an apparent blow for the 46-year-old black American who was murdered by a police officer in May 2020 in Minneapolis.
Valliday (25) – pictured here for the first time – wasn’t long out of prison for committing GBH and robbery on a man who had contacted him to buy ecstasy tablets from him but ended up nearly having his ear bitten off.
It emerged this week that Valliday had launched what a judge described as a “terrifying” attack on the home of a woman with a crossbow and a hatchet last December.
When he was arrested he went berserk, and when interviewed he bizarrely claimed he was taking revenge for the high-profile murder of George Floyd – despite that having absolutely nothing to do with the PSNI.
Valliday, of Angus Street in Antrim, was charged with attempting to cause criminal damage to a police cell van on December 12.
He was also sentenced for possessing a crossbow as an offensive weapon, a hatchet ‘without lawful authority’ in Antrim, causing criminal damage to a window of a property, possession of cannabis and possession of cannabis with intent to supply.
Antrim Magistrates’ Court heard police received a report that a living-room window had been broken at a property in Antrim that night and police found a crossbow bolt lying on the grass.
The court was told a female resident had been “frightened” by the incident. Camera footage showed a man aiming a crossbow, and a window was then hit with a hatchet. Blood was found on the window.
After going to the scene, police had then gone to another address in Antrim town and saw Valliday throw items into an alleyway which matched those used in the house attack. Around 200g of cannabis in 15 ‘deal bags’, along with scales and a ‘deal list’, were also found.
When arrested, police noticed Valliday had an injury to his right hand and officers suspected that was from breaking the window.
The earlier court heard that during an interview, Valliday said he kicked the window of a police vehicle “in payback for George Floyd”, while he told police the cannabis was for personal use despite it being found separated in deal bags.
Valliday appeared via video link from prison on Tuesday for sentencing at Antrim Magistrates Court, sitting in Ballymena.
A prosecutor said a woman and her two children were in the property attacked by Valliday.
A defence lawyer said that the defendant had committed the offences when he was in the “throes of addiction” and Valliday accepted he had been “out of control”.
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The house attacked was the home of a woman who had been in a relationship with his brother and Valliday decided “in the midst of this drug difficulty to attack the house”, but “there was never an intention to attack the person”.
The lawyer added: “That doesn’t get away from the fact that it was a very frightening episode for this young lady and her children.”
Jailing him for five months and putting a three-year restraining order in place, District Judge Nigel Broderick said: “This would have been a terrifying incident for the complainant and her children in her home. This occurred at ten minutes to midnight.”
He told Valliday: “You are attacking her with a crossbow and a bolt and a hatchet and goodness knows what was going through her mind as you were trying to break this window.”
The murder of George Floyd by a police officer who knelt on his neck for nine minutes led to protests around the globe, including in the UK and Ireland, with protesters gathering in Custom House Square and Belfast City Hall in June 2020 as part of Black Lives Matter rallies.
Valliday was jailed for three-and-a-half years in February 2020 for a shocking attack which left a man with permanent injuries in what was described in court as a “drug deal gone wrong”.
The victim had told the police he had contacted Valliday through Messenger, wanting to buy ecstasy.
But when the man turned up at the agreed spot in Antrim, Valliday told him he didn’t have the drugs on him and then, with two other men, subjected the victim to a horrific attack.
He was repeatedly kicked and punched before having £20 taken from him.
The man said he was hit on the back of the head with a beer bottle while Valliday tried to bite his ear off, even shouting “I have nearly got it”.
He was then hit three times on the head with a brick before it was thrown at him.
He was left with a serious eye injury, fractures to both eye sockets and nasal bone, and needed eight stitches to a head wound and further stitches to his ear.
Valliday eventually pleaded guilty to GBH with intent and robbery and was sentenced to three years and six months behind bars, with 21 months of that to be served in prison and the rest on licence.
But sources say Valliday is a constant scourge around Antrim.
“He’s tortured this town for years,” said one Antrim man.
“He’s an animal and he shouldn’t be allowed out until he’s no longer a threat to the people of this town.
“Look what he put that girl through, firing a crossbow at her house and using a hatchet to smash her window. And this is a man who wasn’t long out of jail for a disgusting attack on a man whose ear he tried to bite off.
“It’s only a matter of time before some other poor innocent person comes across this creature and ends up traumatised. Five months for what he did, given his record, is a joke.”
