In November 1921, he and Robert Boyd organised the Ulster Imperial Guards as a paramilitary force of 21,000 men.
He was walking in Garfield Street off Royal Avenue, to his business, a short distance away, and had been followed closely by his assassins.
Woods who had joined the Irish National Army was trying to control irregular elements within the IRA.
By agreement with the government of Northern Ireland, two officers of the Irish National Army were given permission to travel to the trial.
General Ginger O'Connell and Commandant Charles McAlister gave evidence and Woods was found not guilty.