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131-486: The brigade reached the apex of its notoriety during the 1990s when Johnny Adair emerged as its leading figure. Under Adair's direction the West Belfast Brigade in general and its sub-unit "C Company" in particular became associated with a killing spree in the neighbouring Catholic nationalist districts of West Belfast. With Adair and his supporters suspicious of the developing Northern Ireland peace process and

262-507: A Protestant family as one of five children. In the late 1960s, he worked as a machinist in Mackie's Foundry in the Springfield Road . He later became a bookmaker . At the age of 18, he married Elizabeth Baird, by whom he had three sons and two daughters. In 1969, the religious-political conflict known as " The Troubles " broke out; two years later in 1971, he became a founding member of

393-506: A Rangers FC match in Glasgow. The killing was widely blamed on Adair's C Company – Gregg was one of those who had organised the expulsion of Adair from the UDA. Among the mainstream UDA, a powerful faction of Adair opponents quickly formed under the leadership of South Belfast brigadier Jackie McDonald . In the early hours of 6 February (five days after Gregg's shooting and just hours before his funeral

524-459: A Rock Against Communism -styled band called Offensive Weapon which openly espoused support for the National Front . At 17, Adair began a relationship with Gina Crossan, three years his junior and also a skinhead, who at the time had shaved her head to leave only a tuft of hair at the front . The notoriety of the gang, which was part of a wider group in loyalist north and west Belfast known as

655-635: A Mad Dog , Robinson stated that after a UDA killing had been carried out, he would become highly aroused and afterwards be "particularly wild in bed". It was also alleged that the mere discussion of the details of operations he had helped plan gave him a "sexually charged excitement", even when the killings had been done by others. After his release, he was almost immediately re-arrested for violently assaulting his wife Gina, who had been diagnosed with and treated for ovarian cancer . After this episode Adair reportedly moved to Scotland but later relocated to Horwich , near Bolton in early 2003. In 2003 he became

786-520: A Protestant. This, along with press revelations that the UDA had written a letter of apology to his widow in which they enclosed a ten-pound note, helped to further undermine the already unpopular strike. During the 1980s James Craig , another former associate of Harding Smith, had been attached to the West Belfast Brigade as "fundraiser-in-chief", a role which saw the brigade move increasingly towards racketeering. Craig particularly favoured protection rackets that targeted Belfast's building firms and gained

917-401: A UDA leader for three years up to 1994. During this time, Adair and his colleagues were involved in multiple random murders of Catholic civilians, mostly carried out by a special killing unit led by Stevie "Top Gun" McKeag . At Adair's trial in 1995, the prosecuting lawyer said he was dedicated to his cause against those whom he "regarded as militant republicans – among whom he had lumped almost

1048-465: A UDA roadblock and brought to one of the UDA's notorious "romper rooms" to be interrogated and tortured, with Payne having presided over the "grilling" and the subsequent double killing on 21 July 1972, the day the IRA had exploded 22 bombs in various areas of Belfast resulting in the deaths of nine people including UDA member William Irvine and two Protestant teenagers, William Crothers and Stephen Parker. He

1179-532: A bad result for someone whose day job is a bookie". During the Ulster Workers' Council Strike of May 1974 Lyttle was, along with UDA leader Andy Tyrie and Ken Gibson of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), one of three loyalist paramilitaries chosen to accompany the three leaders of the main unionist political parties, Harry West , Ian Paisley , and Ernest Baird , to a meeting with Stanley Orme ,

1310-420: A bomb attack on Adair's house on 8 January, two days before the West Belfast Brigade chief was returned to jail. "Fat" Jackie Thompson, who remained totally loyal to Adair, was chosen to take over as Brigadier whilst Adair was in jail. McDonald made contact with A and B Companies of the West Belfast Brigade and told them that he intended to forcibly remove Adair. They accepted McDonald's leadership and established

1441-489: A child, Adair attended Hemsworth Primary School close to his Old Lodge Road home, where he was noted as an unremarkable student. As he grew older Adair took to the streets, forming a skinhead street gang with a group of young loyalist friends, who "got involved initially in petty then increasingly violent crime". Members included Donald Hodgen , Sam "Skelly" McCrory , "Fat" Jackie Thompson , James and Herbie Millar. Adair, Hodgen, McCrory and Thompson were classmates at

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1572-554: A compromise candidate between the two real powerhouses of Harding Smith and Herron but before long he began to assert his independence. Herron was killed in late 1973 and soon after Tyrie and Harding Smith became openly hostile after Tyrie sanctioned a trip by UDA activists to Libya . Harding Smith publicly condemned the move, arguing that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was a friend of the Provisional IRA , and in January 1975 he announced

1703-554: A decade earlier, and were seeking to restore him to his former role. Johnny Adair John Adair (born 27 October 1963), better known as Johnny Adair or Mad Dog Adair , is a Northern Irish loyalist and the former leader of the "C Company", 2nd Battalion Shankill Road, West Belfast Brigade of the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF). This was a cover name used by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA),

1834-485: A freer hand in dealing with Catholics than that afforded by Lyttle with the latter's alleged links to the security forces". Lyttle was released in 1994 on remission after having served three years of his seven-year sentence. Immediately after his release he was summoned to appear before the UDA Inner Council and reportedly admitted to working for Special Branch. He later claimed he avoided being executed by convincing

1965-531: A grandfather for the first time. In May 2006, it was reported that Adair had received £100,000 from John Blake Publishing for a ghost-written autobiography. In November 2006, the UK's Five television channel transmitted an observational documentary on Adair made by Donal MacIntyre . The focus of the film centred around Adair and another supposedly reformed character, a former neo-Nazi from Germany known as Nick Greger, and their trip to Uganda to build an orphanage. Adair

2096-579: A gun attack on Gerry Adams in the 1980s. Adair however had a lot of bad blood with Gregg, stemming from an attack on a West Belfast Brigade member in Rathcoole and the subsequent kneecapping of the attackers by Adair's men in Gregg's area. In December 2002, the LVF had placed a bomb under Gregg's car and soon afterwards Gregg's house and that of his ally Tommy Kirkham were attacked by West Belfast men. Gregg retaliated with

2227-453: A gun raid at a party and in 2012 was the target of a failed bomb plot. He was also facing trial later that year on drugs charges. In December 2023, while recording a podcast with far-right activist Tommy Robinson , Adair surprisingly expresed a grudging respect for the IRA hunger strikers , describing the manner of their deaths as "dedication at the highest level" for a political cause and admitting that he would not have volunteered to do

2358-469: A headquarters at the Shankill's Heather Street Social Club, where members of C Company were invited in order to defect back to the mainstream UDA. Several members did so, with Mo Courtney amongst the most prominent of those to accept the invitation. Around 100 of McDonald's men, all heavily armed, launched an invasion of Adair's Lower Shankill stronghold in the early hours of the morning of 6 February and attacked

2489-467: A large degree of autonomy and regarded the areas under their control as "their personal fiefdoms". He was a member of the UDA's Inner Council and served as the UDA's spokesman. His youngest son, Thomas "Tosh" Lyttle also joined the UDA. It was alleged by Irish journalist Kevin Myers that Lyttle was with fellow UDA member Davy Payne when two Catholics, Patrick O'Neill and Rosemary McCartney, were abducted at

2620-519: A list of leading republican targets and October 1987 Nelson dispatched a group of raw recruits to the nationalist Ballymurphy area to kill the first of these, a 66-year-old taxi driver by the name of Francisco Notorantonio. Despite appearing on the list Notorantonio had only ever been very loosely connected to the Irish Republican Army and Sinn Féin and had ended his active associations with republicanism several years earlier. In fact Nelson, who

2751-456: A lot of money through these, both for the brigade and for himself. Arrested in 1985 for racketeering, the case collapsed and he returned to the Shankill but was soon asked to leave because of his personal enrichment and he left to link up the John McMichael 's South Belfast Brigade instead. According to Billy McQuiston , a member of the West Belfast Brigade, the activities of the brigade during

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2882-516: A loyalist paramilitary organisation. In 2002 Adair was expelled from the organisation following a violent internal power struggle . Since 2003, he, his family and a number of supporters have been forced to leave Northern Ireland by the mainstream UDA. Adair was born into an Ulster Protestant loyalist family and raised in Belfast . He grew up on the Old Lodge Road, a now mostly demolished road linking

3013-487: A nationalist solicitor, Pat Finucane , although the plan was initially vetoed by the brigade leadership. By the early 1990s, a new leadership had emerged on the Shankill Road following the killing of powerful South Belfast Brigadier and UDA Deputy Commander John McMichael in 1987 by a booby-trap car bomb planted by the Provisional IRA ; less than three months later, Supreme Commander Andy Tyrie resigned after an attempt

3144-438: A nine-year off-and-on relationship with Adair, backed up this claim in an interview with The Mirror , in which she alleged that Adair has been having sex with long-term friend and fellow loyalist Skelly McCrory since they were teenagers. Robinson told The Mirror journalist that she and Adair had sexual encounters during her visits to him in prison and that he received visits from prostitutes as well. In her book, In Love With

3275-560: A number of nationalists in the New Lodge area, where he was a member of the local homing pigeon society. Jimmy continued his membership even after his son had emerged as a leading loyalist paramilitary. According to Ian S. Wood, Adair had little parental supervision and did not attend school regularly. However Hugh Jordan and David Lister insist that the Adairs were attentive and fairly strict parents who sent their children to Sunday school . As

3406-507: A party was held afterwards in Lyttle's Sydney Street West home to celebrate the killing. Lyttle threw a similar party following the assassination of Finucane. The possibility of conspiracy became public through Lyttle himself, following the shooting of Loughlin Maginn on 25 August 1989. Media coverage showed Maginn as the innocent victim of a sectarian attack but Lyttle personally contacted members of

3537-414: A period of chaos within the West Belfast Brigade, with a rapid succession of brigadiers and a number of leading members spending time in prison. Lyttle's arrest in early 1990 saw him relinquish the role of Brigadier, whilst the allegations that he was an informer saw him disowned by the rest of the brigade with four others following him before the year was out. Stability initially looked set when Tommy Irvine

3668-556: A result, while still in his teens, Adair was threatened with knee-capping by the UDA after assaulting an old age pensioner but was given the option of joining the UDA's young wing, the Ulster Young Militants , instead. He joined the Ulster Young Militants, and later the UDA – a legal loyalist paramilitary organisation which used the cover name "Ulster Freedom Fighters" (UFF) when it carried out killings. Upon joining

3799-589: A think tank with UDA Commander Andy Tyrie and South Belfast brigadier John McMichael ; this was called the New Ulster Political Research Group . Along with Tyrie, McMichael, Glenn Barr and Harry Chicken, Lyttle was involved in the production of the group's 1979 policy document Beyond the Religious Divide in which the UDA advanced a policy of negotiated independence for Northern Ireland . In January 1990, Lyttle, along with his son, "Tosh",

3930-497: A transitory figure however, as a result of the murder of Adair supporter Alan McCullough . McCullough had asked Courtney if he could return from exile in Bolton and promised to tell the new brigadier the location of a large drugs stash and the home address of Gina Adair in return for his safety. Courtney agreed but when McCullough returned home he was taken by UDA members to Mallusk near Templepatrick and killed on 28 May 2003. The killing

4061-511: A week. In January 1998, Adair was one of five loyalist prisoners visited in the prison by British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Mo Mowlam . She persuaded them to drop their objection to their political representatives continuing the talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement in April that year. Following the killing of Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) leader Billy Wright inside

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4192-452: A wing of the prison usually reserved for prisoners under high risk of attack from other inmates, such as sex offenders; an area described by one of the new leaders, Jim Spence , as "the wing with the ball-roots [a local slang term of abuse]". As the 1990s progressed, Lyttle had little involvement in the UDA leadership on the Shankill Road, which had passed to Johnny Adair and other young, ambitious militants such as Stephen McKeag who wanted

4323-453: Is sometimes difficult to piece together; it usually involves a combination of political differences over the ceasefires, rivalry over control of territory, and competition over the proceeds of organised crime. In August 2000 Adair claimed he had been attacked with a pipe bomb by the IRA. That same month, on 19 August, he organised a "loyalist day of culture" on the lower Shankill Road. He invited

4454-584: Is the incumbent West Belfast Brigade leader and under his leadership the brigade has again become estranged from the wider UDA. The origins of the UDA lay in west Belfast with the formation of vigilante groups such as the Shankill Defence Association and the Woodvale Defence Association . The latter, formed by Charles Harding Smith , became the largest of a number of similar groups and

4585-518: The Combined Loyalist Military Command ceasefire of 1994, the West Belfast Brigade increasingly came to operate as a rogue group within the UDA, feuding with rival loyalists in the Ulster Volunteer Force before splitting from the UDA altogether in late 2002. Ultimately Adair was forced out and the brigade was brought back into the mainstream UDA. It continues to organise, albeit with less significance than in its heyday. Matt Kincaid

4716-574: The Red Hand Commando , the UFF was to be an armed elite of killing units to be nominally separate from the legal UDA but actually a flag of convenience under which UDA members could kill Catholics. The model soon spread from west Belfast to the rest of the UDA. When Harding Smith left Northern Ireland in 1975 Tommy Lyttle was chosen as his replacement as Brigadier, following a brief interlude during which John McClatchey served as leader. Under Lyttle however

4847-444: The football club of the same name . Following the killing of LVF leader Billy Wright in 1997 Adair became the new contact man for a group of Bolton-based members of the neo-Nazi organisation Combat 18 (C18) who up to that point had been close to the LVF . Adair built up a close relationship with these far right activists, even wearing an England shirt during UEFA Euro 2000 that one of the members had given him . Furthermore, when

4978-574: The "NF Skinz" because of their support for the ideas of the National Front, gained widespread notoriety on 14 January 1981 when " Sieg Heiling " members launched a brutal attack on anti-racist fans of The Specials and The Beat when the two bands played a concert at the Ulster Hall . Adair would later be assaulted by Irish republicans while attending a UB40 concert. This was followed in August 1983 by

5109-415: The 1980s helped to make the UDA unpopular on the Shankill as they were identified with gangsterism. Despite this the West Belfast Brigade saw an influx of new young members in the 1980s and before long Lyttle came under pressure to give them something to do. Lyttle shared Craig's predilection for gangsterism but was less interested in murder and so turned to his intelligence officer Brian Nelson who drew up

5240-635: The Diamond Jubilee on the Lower Shankill, then spread to the Rex Bar, a popular UVF drinking den where shots were fired and UVF members beaten up. Adair and his followers then attacked the homes of UVF members and their families in the Lower Shankill, forcing them out of the area, while orders were also sent to A Company in Highfield that the estate should be "cleansed" of UVF members. Adair's men also sacked

5371-659: The Finucane killing, as he feared that his rank of brigadier would make him a likely target for the inevitable IRA retaliation. Stobie was later arrested and charged with Finucane's killing, although he was not convicted. UDA member Ken Barrett , who was also a Special Branch informer, eventually pleaded guilty to the killing in September 2004. Shortly before Lyttle's death in October 1995, BBC journalist John Ware interviewed him. Lyttle maintained that two RUC officers had originally proposed

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5502-623: The Highfield estate with some members in Glencairn, B Company which covered the Woodvale area, and C Company for the Shankill Road itself. Battalions covering the other three areas of Belfast as well as South East Antrim and North Antrim and Londonderry were formed soon afterwards and before long these were re-designated as brigades after the UDA experienced a rush of members. The battalion fell under

5633-571: The LVF, a splinter group of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and a bitter rival of that group, active alongside LVF members at the Drumcree conflict . Under Adair the West Belfast Brigade moved closer to a feud with the UVF. On 19 August 2000 the West Belfast Brigade hosted a "Loyalist Day of Culture" organised by Adair on the Lower Shankill with fellow brigadiers John Gregg , Billy McFarland , Jackie McDonald and Jimbo Simpson in attendance. However early in

5764-599: The Maze prison by the INLA the previous December, the UDA prisoners had voted two to one to withdraw from the peace process. Adair's co-operation was essential as he was regarded as the key figure in securing the support of the other loyalist prisoners. At the end of April 1999, while he was on home leave from prison, Adair was shot at and grazed by a bullet in the head at a UB40 concert in Belfast which he had attended with his wife. He blamed

5895-465: The North Belfast Brigade but confirming support for Bunting's leadership. However, whilst the statement was signed by McDonald and Birch, no representative of the West Belfast Brigade had added their signature. The north Belfast rebels subsequently named Robert Molyneaux, a convicted killer and former friend of Bunting's closest ally John Howcroft, as their preferred choice for Brigadier. Although

6026-509: The Provisional IRA's Internal Security Unit or "Nutting Squad" as it was commonly referred to. A substitute was eventually found in the person of Francisco Notarantonio , a retired IRA man of Italian parentage who had been interned previously. On 9 October 1987, Lyttle sent out a UDA hit squad, headed by Sam McCrory using the cover name " Ulster Freedom Fighters " to Notarantonio's home where they shot him to death in his bedroom. Allegedly

6157-509: The Rising Sun bar in which eight civilians, two of whom were Protestants, were shot dead. While Adair was targeted for assassination a number of times, he frequently exaggerated the number of attempts. During this time, undercover officers from the RUC had recorded months of discussions with Adair in which he boasted of his activities, producing enough evidence to charge him with directing terrorism. He

6288-417: The Shankill Road. As a result of his involvement in the violence, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Mandelson revoked Adair's early release and returned him to prison. This time he was sent to Maghaberry instead of the Maze. With command reverting to Dodds, UVF member Samuel Rockett was killed by C Company the following night. The UVF struck back and 4 more people on both sides were killed before

6419-647: The Somerdale School on the Crumlin Road . Although the gang still officially attended school, they would frequently play truant, take a bus into the countryside and consume large quantities of cider. The gang regularly congregated outside the Buffs Club on the corner of the Crumlin Road and Century Street, where their numbers were swollen by other young men from in and around the Shankill. Eventually, Adair started

6550-586: The Stevens Inquires, assumed overall control of the brigade. One of his first acts was to appoint an officer in overall control of the brigade's military activities and he chose his friend Johnny Adair for this role. Adair also replaced Dodds, who faced a longer spell in prison, as head of C Company. Under Adair's direction the West Belfast Brigade became notorious for its killing spree, with his leading gunman Stephen "Top Gun" McKeag in particular becoming notorious. His first killing had actually occurred before

6681-625: The UDA being on ceasefire. McKeag struck on 31st Dec by machine-gunning the Clifton Tavern in north Belfast, killing Edmund Trainor and injuring several others. He followed this on 23 January 1998 by kiinllg Liam Conway on north Belfast's Hesketh Road. The Inner Council of the UDA brought McKeag to task for this killing but he was not disciplined, despite the murder seeing the Ulster Democratic Party left out of all-party talks. The West Belfast Brigade meanwhile continued to assort freely with

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6812-465: The UDA in 1984, Adair and his friends were assigned to C8, an active unit that formed part of the West Belfast Brigade's C Company, which covered the lower Shankill. The young members' early duties mostly consisted of rioting, along with occasional gun attacks on heavily armoured police vehicles or arson attacks on local businesses felt to be employing "too many" Catholics. The unit was eager to become even more active and from an early stage plotted to kill

6943-549: The UDA's Belfast leadership in reprisal for attacks on Catholics. The office above the shop was the UDA's Shankill headquarters and a meeting was due to take place shortly after the bomb exploded. The bomb detonated prematurely, killing one of the two IRA men, Thomas Begley , and nine Protestants (a UDA volunteer and eight civilians). The UDA retaliated by carrying out the Greysteel massacre in County Londonderry , an attack on

7074-482: The UDA. As part of this campaign Adair had visited Warnock's family and told them that Gray had been involved in their relative's death, even though he was aware that it had actually been carried out by a hired Red Hand Commando (RHC) gunman after Warnock refused to pay a drug debt to a North Down businessman. As a result, Gray was shot by a lone gunman after he left the Warnock home, where he had been paying his respects to

7205-482: The UDA. However, Adair's leadership now became characterised by extreme paranoia. Mo Courtney , who served as Adair's bodyguard, was amongst those to come under suspicion because of his friendship with the North Belfast-based Shoukri brothers , whom Adair viewed as potential rivals. Adair despatched a team to kill Courtney but his friend Donald Hodgen tipped him off and Courtney escaped the Shankill before

7336-478: The UVF. Another loyalist feud erupted, and ended with several men dead and scores evicted from their homes. The Rathcoole home of long-standing UDA member Sammy Duddy was raked by gunfire; although Duddy was not injured in the shooting attack, his pet chihuahua Bambi was fatally wounded by shots fired through the front door by masked gunmen from Adair's C Company. Adair later admitted in an interview he gave for journalist Suzanne Breen that Duddy never got over

7467-412: The West Belfast Brigade entered a period of stagnation and from being the main area of activity it fell way behind the new centres of North and South Belfast. A rare foray into murder by a member of the brigade proved somewhat disastrous during the 1977 Ulster Workers' Council strike. Kenny McClinton stopped a bus as part of a road blockade and entering the vehicle, shot and killed driver Harry Bradshaw,

7598-435: The West Belfast Brigade killed mainstream UDA member Jonathan Stewart at a party, an attack that saw Adair loyalist Roy Green killed in retaliation. Adair's men then struck back on 1 February 2003, killing South East Antrim Brigade leader John Gregg and his friend Rab Carson as the two returned from watching Rangers F.C. Gregg's killing proved the final straw, in part because he enjoyed a stellar reputation amongst loyalists for

7729-559: The West Belfast brigade despite not living in the area. Further afield a group of Shankill men had relocated to areas of North Down such as Bangor and Newtownards and there had found that support amongst young loyalists for Adair was so strong that they established a new D Company for the West Belfast Brigade there. The area was supposed to be part of the jurisdiction of the East Belfast Brigade. The feud had been unpopular with

7860-514: The accused in the trial were dropped on 1 July. On 10 September 2016, Johnny and Gina Adair's son, Jonathan Jr, was found dead in Troon , aged 32. Adair Jr died from an accidental overdose while celebrating the day after his release from prison for motoring offences. Adair Jr had been in and out of prison since the family fled Northern Ireland. He served a five-year sentence for dealing heroin and crack cocaine. The year before Jonathan had been cleared of

7991-407: The agreement of the other brigadiers that Adair should be expelled from the UDA, along with his spokesman John White. Adair ignored the expulsion and erected "West Belfast UDA - Business as Usual" banners on the Shankill Road. A coterie of figures within the West Belfast Brigade, and especially Adair's C Company stronghold, remained loyal to Adair as the West Belfast Brigade split off from the rest of

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8122-418: The battalion himself, whilst also becoming joint chairman of the UDA as a whole with Anderson. Harding Smith soon became embroiled in a feud with East Belfast leader Tommy Herron , whilst also facing a growing rival in his own area in the shape of Andy Tyrie , the commander of A Company. Tyrie was chosen as the overall Chairman of the UDA in 1973, with Anderson off the scene. Tyrie had initially been seen as

8253-515: The claims. John McMichael was blown up by a booby-trap car bomb outside his Lisburn home on 22 December 1987. Although the IRA claimed responsibility for the attack, there were suggestions that members of the UDA helped set up the killing by passing on information to the IRA about McMichael to facilitate the assassination. Lyttle put the blame on his long-time rival James Pratt Craig , the UDA's notorious "fundraiser", who had been under investigation by McMichael for his racketeering activities. There

8384-442: The day clashes broke out between UDA and UVF members outside the Diamond Jubilee, a UDA bar, and later UDA members attacked the UVF stronghold Rex Bar further up the road, firing shots at the UVF men trapped inside. In response, Adair drove all UVF members and their families out of the Lower Shankill and in doing so began the feud that his fellow brigadiers had hoped to avoid. Orders were sent up to A Company in Highfield by Dodds that

8515-436: The decade, in part because of envy within C Company of his "achievements", and he was found dead in suspicious circumstances in September 2000. On 16 May 1994 around twenty leading figures in C Company were arrested as part of an RUC operation against the notorious group. Although a number of those arrested were released without charge, Adair was imprisoned, forcing him to vacate his role as Brigadier. His close ally Winkie Dodds

8646-486: The deceased. On 20 September 2002, Adair was summoned to an Inner Council meeting held in Sandy Row where there was a showdown between him and the other brigadiers, including Gray. Fearing an ambush, Adair had his allies "Fat" Jackie Thompson and James "Sham" Millar smuggle a pistol for him to the meeting. Five days later, Adair was expelled from the UDA for treason along with close associate John White. Adair's response to

8777-457: The deputy to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Merlyn Rees , in which the government representative attempted unsuccessfully to have the strike terminated early. Together with Tyrie, Vanguard Assemblyman Glenn Barr , his ally Andy Robinson and Newtownabbey -based Harry Chicken, Lyttle travelled to Libya where he met Colonel Muammar Gaddafi about obtaining weapons and money for

8908-650: The drugs trade, and his son, Jonathan Jr (nicknamed both 'Mad Pup' and 'Daft Dog' ) has been charged with selling crack cocaine and heroin. Adair himself was arrested and fined for assault and threatening behaviour in September 2005. He had married Gina Crossan, his partner for many years, at the Maze prison on 21 February 1997. Together they had three children. Several claims have been made about Adair's sexuality by his former girlfriend, Jackie "Legs" Robinson, and UDA hitman Michael Stone . Stone claimed in his autobiography that Adair had sex with other male inmates while in prison. Jackie Robinson, who beginning in 1991 sustained

9039-554: The early 1990s. In his autobiography, he alleged he was frequently passed information on republican paramilitaries by sympathetic British Army members, and that his own whereabouts were passed to the IRA by the RUC Special Branch , who, he claimed, hated him. As brigadier of the West Belfast UDA, Adair was entitled to one of the six seats on the organisation's Inner Council and in this role, because he wanted to continue on

9170-554: The emergence of Adair on 11 March 1990 in the Clonard district of the Falls Road. Several more followed however with police estimated that McKeag committed at least 12 murders and former members of C Company putting the figure even higher. Spence was arrested on charges of extortion in March 1993 and gave up the role of Brigadier with Johnny Adair succeeding him. As Brigadier, Adair continued on

9301-545: The entire Roman Catholic population". Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) detectives believe his unit killed up to 40 people in this period. Adair once remarked to a Catholic journalist from the Republic of Ireland that normally Catholics traveled in the boot of his car. According to a press report in 2003, Adair was handed details of republican suspects by the Intelligence Corps , and was even invited for dinner with them in

9432-574: The estate should be "cleansed" of UVF members. The UVF struck back on 21 August, killing two of Adair's allies, Jackie Coulter and Bobby Mahood, on the Crumlin Road . In response C Company members burned down the headquarters of the UVF-linked Progressive Unionist Party . Adair was arrested on 22 August 2000 whilst he and Dodds were driving down the Shankill Road. Adair was sent back to prison for breaking terms of his parole. With command reverting to Dodds, UVF member Samuel Rockett

9563-452: The expulsion was "Fuck them uns" and declared the West Belfast Brigade a separate organisation from the mainstream UDA. He even erected "West Belfast UDA – Business as Usual" banners on the Shankill Road. By this point Adair had even lost the support of the Shoukri brothers , his proteges in north Belfast who had been amongst his closest allies outside of his own area but who decided to side with

9694-646: The feud soon died down, a series of low level tit-for-tat incidents continued, culminating in Howcroft's partner's car being burnt out in August 2014. In September 2014 it was reported in the Belfast Telegraph that the leaders of the UDA in North, East and South Belfast, as well as the head of the Londonderry and North Antrim Brigade had met to discuss the feud as well as the schism with the West Belfast Brigade. According to

9825-559: The feud then petered out. On 15 May 2002, Adair was released from prison again. Outside the prison he was greeted by up to 300 of his supporters. Once free, he was a key part of an effort to forge stronger ties between the UDA and the LVF, a small breakaway faction of the UVF founded in 1996 by Billy Wright and following his killing, commanded by Mark "Swinger" Fulton , with whom Adair was on good terms. Fulton had been in Maghaberry since December 2001. The most open declaration of this alliance

9956-573: The feud with the UVF was launched in 2000 through C Company members attacking the UVF's Rex Bar stronghold a few C18 members fought alongside the UDA men. As a result, it was to the homes of these far rightists, in particular a Bolton-based tattoo artist and C18 member, that Adair's supporters fled in 2003. Adair was released from prison on 10 January 2005 and immediately headed to Bolton after being taken by helicopter to nearby Manchester . The police in Bolton questioned his wife, Gina about her involvement in

10087-455: The five other brigadiers from the Inner Council to attend, along with loyalist Michael Stone and politicians John White and Frank McCoubrey . This event featured loyalist marching bands and a militant show of strength by the West Belfast Brigade. It also marked the start of a violent feud between the UDA and its main rival, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). Clashes first broke outside

10218-515: The hit could take place. Winkie Dodds, whose role had diminished considerably after a stroke , also split from Adair around this time after his cousin William "Muggsy" Mullan had been driven from the Shankill for associating with the Shoukris and "Fat" Jackie Thompson had led a punishment squad in a brutal attack on Dodds' brother Milton "Doddsy" Dodds. The feud erupted on 27 December 2002 when members of

10349-419: The homes of Gusty Spence and Winston Churchill Rea as part of a move to drive the UVF off the Shankill. The UVF struck back on 21 August, killing two of Adair's allies, Jackie Coulter and Bobby Mahood, on the Crumlin Road. In response, C Company members burned down the headquarters of the UVF-linked Progressive Unionist Party (PUP). Adair was arrested on 22 August 2000 whilst he and Dodds were driving down

10480-434: The hospital he was visited by members of the RUC who asked him who he had been drinking with. Cardwell named the UDA members he was with, having failed to grasp the code of secrecy governing the UDA. In order to send a message to informers, Adair had Cardwell abducted following his release from hospital and subjected to a long and brutal interrogation process. He was shot and left to bleed to death. C Company member Gary McMaster

10611-464: The idea of killing Finucane. Lyttle allegedly claimed to another journalist that his Special Branch handler suggested "Why don't you whack Finucane?" Two years prior to Finucane's assassination, Lyttle reportedly had asked Nelson to obtain details on top IRA figures. When the name Frederick Scappaticci came up, Nelson's FRU handlers became alarmed as Scappaticci—allegedly known as " Stakeknife "—was one of their most important agents, having infiltrated

10742-458: The initial control of Davy Fogel , under whose leadership the group undertook a programme of erecting barricades between the Shankill and the neighbouring republican Falls and Springfield Roads. However, the local strongman was Harding Smith, who had been held in prison on charges of gun-running in London . When he returned in early 1973 Harding Smith ran Fogel out of the area and became commander of

10873-524: The leadership that "the Branch had helped him. He hadn't helped them". He left his home in the Shankill and retired to Donaghadee , County Down , where he died of a heart attack on 18 October 1995 as he was playing snooker in a local pub. He was 56 years old. His second son, John, a journalist who writes for The Independent , has described his father as a "hard man" who liked to read James Bond novels, and watch western and gangster films. He recounted

11004-593: The legal loyalist paramilitary organisation, the Ulster Defence Association. According to his daughter, Linda, he joined the UDA after a Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) bomb exploded at the Balmoral furniture showroom in the Shankill Road in December 1971, killing four people, including two babies. Lyttle's wife and two daughters had been close to the scene of the explosion but were unhurt. In 1972, he

11135-613: The loss of Bambi. On 13 September 2002, Jim Gray – the head of the UDA in East Belfast and an archrival of Adair – was shot in the face by Adair's supporters. The shooting was described by the police as "loosely related" to the death of Stephen Warnock, an LVF leader, as part of a loyalist feud. Adair had been spreading rumours that Gray and John Gregg , head of the UDA South East Antrim Brigade , were both to be stood down as part of his attempts to take full control of

11266-474: The lower Shankill Road to the lower Oldpark area, a site of many sectarian clashes and riots during the Troubles . The son of Jimmy and Mabel Adair, he was the youngest of their seven children, his siblings being (in age order) Margaret, Mabel, Jean, Etta, Lizzie and Archie (who was later also a UDA member). Adair's father, Jimmy, had no involvement in loyalist activities and maintained close friendships with

11397-459: The loyalist cause. When Lyttle returned from the trip, which was largely unsuccessful, he was caught up in a loyalist feud between Tyrie and Charles Harding Smith for overall control of the UDA. Lyttle was with Harding Smith when the latter was shot and wounded by a sniper in January 1975. Following the attack Tyrie asserted his control and, with the help of Lyttle and fellow Shankill commanders John McClatchey and Tommy Boyd, soon regained control of

11528-481: The mainstream UDA in this dispute. There were attempts on Adair's and White's lives. Adair returned to prison in January 2003, when his early release licence was revoked by Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Paul Murphy on grounds of engaging in unlawful activity. He appointed "Fat" Jackie Thompson as his replacement as Brigadier. On 1 February 2003, UDA divisional leader John Gregg was shot dead along with another UDA member, Robert "Rab" Carson, on returning from

11659-472: The murder and as a result Gray was shot and seriously injured when he came to the Warnock family home to commiserate soon afterwards. A meeting was convened of all brigadiers in an attempt to avert a crisis, but nothing came of it as Adair refused to bend. McDonald's men followed Adair and reported that he conferred with his LVF allies in Ballysillan after leaving the meeting early. On this basis McDonald secured

11790-479: The other brigadiers, in particular Jackie McDonald of the South Belfast Brigade, who had emerged as the most credible rival to Adair within the UDA. Adair sought to restart the UVF feud and challenge his fellow brigadiers in September 2002, when East Belfast LVF member Stephen Warnock was killed by the Red Hand Commando . Adair spread a rumour that East Belfast Brigade chief Jim Gray had actually been behind

11921-469: The path of violence, clashed frequently with South East Antrim Brigadier Joe English , who advocated seeking a peace settlement. The BBC described Adair as "the most controversial, high-profile and ubiquitous" of all the paramilitaries operating in Northern Ireland during this period. The IRA's Shankill Road Bombing of a fish shop in October 1993 was an attempt to assassinate Adair and the rest of

12052-474: The pivotal Shankill and neighbouring Woodvale areas. Harding Smith survived another shooting later that year before leaving Northern Ireland for good. Lyttle was then appointed West Belfast Brigadier in his stead. With the feud ended and firmly established as a loyal supporter of Tyrie, Lyttle was sent by Tyrie to the United States to solicit support and funding from interested groups. In 1977 he helped form

12183-505: The press to inform them that the UDA had good reasons for killing Maginn, whose name was on the list. To back up his claims, he sent a copy of the list he received to a journalist. The uproar that followed the revelation that a senior UDA member was in possession of government documents led to Royal Ulster Constabulary Chief Constable Hugh Annesley appointing Stevens, an officer in Cambridgeshire Constabulary , to investigate

12314-412: The report, they agreed that West Belfast Brigade members loyal to the wider UDA should establish a new command structure for the brigade which would then take the lead in ousting Courtney, Spence and Eric McKee from their existing leadership positions. It was also stated that the West Belfast breakaway leaders had recruited Jimbo Simpson , a former North Belfast brigadier driven out of Northern Ireland over

12445-492: The same bloody path that he had followed as military commander. One victim was Noel Cardwell, a mentally sub-normal glass collector at a C Company bar, the Diamond Jubilee, who was seen as a figure of fun by Adair and his cohorts. In December 1993 Cardwell was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast after suffering a bad reaction when his drink was spiked with an ecstasy tablet by a member of C Company. Whilst in

12576-472: The same if asked. Tommy Lyttle Tommy "Tucker" Lyttle (c. 1939 – 18 October 1995), was a high-ranking Ulster loyalist during the period of religious-political conflict in Northern Ireland known as " the Troubles ". A member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) – the largest loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland – he first held the rank of lieutenant colonel and later

12707-517: The secession of the West Belfast Brigade from the UDA. However, after a power struggle Harding Smith was driven out of Northern Ireland following two failed attempts on his life, according to Peter Taylor by one of Tyrie's men. The West Belfast Brigade immediately returned to the mainstream UDA fold. The west Belfast area also saw the formation in 1973 of the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) by former Harding Smith ally John White . Modelled on

12838-464: The shooting on republicans, although a drug dealer was responsible. In September 1999, Adair was released as part of the early-release scheme for paramilitary prisoners under the Belfast Agreement . After his release, much of Adair's activities was bound up with violent internecine feuds within the UDA and between the UDA and other loyalist paramilitary groups. The motivation for such violence

12969-457: The so-called "Gluesniffers March", when 200 skinheads descended on Belfast City Hall determined to riot with Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament members who were holding a rally, with the march taking its name from the prevalence of solvent abuse among the skinheads. The gang was not sanctioned by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), and led to South Belfast Brigadier John McMichael declaring that he wanted its members "run out of town". As

13100-579: The time the bomb detonated. McKeag, a highly placed British state agent was given a licence to kill. McKeag has been suspected in the murders of Sinn Féin member Peter Gallagher on 24th March and Damien Walsh on 25th March. On 1 May 1993 former IRA member Alan Lundy was killed Ardoyne . Sean Lavery, the son of a Sinn Féin Belfast City Councillor , was killed on 8 August with Marie Teresa Dowds de Mogollon killed on 30 August. and Sean Hughes killed at his Donegall Road shop on 7 September. McKeag

13231-405: The twenty or so members of C Company who remained loyal to Adair (who was still in prison), driving them out of Northern Ireland. As a result of this, the West Belfast Brigade was brought back into the UDA. In the immediate aftermath of Adair's removal, and with Thompson one of those to have been driven out of Northern Ireland, Mo Courtney was officially confirmed in the role of brigadier. He proved

13362-454: The two communities a real possibility. However, Stone's actions—in which three republicans were shot dead and more than 60 wounded—impressed many young loyalists who rushed to join the UDA. This change in membership profile was to have a profound effect on the make-up of the UDA leadership. With McMichael dead, Tyrie having resigned in March 1988 (following an attempt on his life) and Craig being assassinated by UFF gunmen in October 1988, Lyttle

13493-421: The unit. In the early 1990s, Gary ‘Smickers’ Smith , who also ran a pet shop on the Shankill Road, was eventually promoted to second in command of C Company and became deputy to Adair. Adair succeeded Jim Spence as brigadier in 1993 after Spence was imprisoned for extortion . When Adair became the first person in Northern Ireland charged with directing terrorism in 1995, he admitted that he had been

13624-472: The western leadership. Tensions had been further stoked by a graffiti campaign against Bunting's leadership on the York Road , in which expelled members of the North Belfast Brigade who had come under the wing of their counterparts in the west called for Bunting's removal as brigadier. The feud was confirmed in December 2013 when a UDA statement was released acknowledging the existence of a dissident tendency within

13755-622: Was a joint mural depicting Adair's UDA "C company" and the LVF. Other elements in the UDA strongly resisted these movements, which they saw as an attempt by Adair to win external support in a bid to take over the leadership of the UDA. Some UDA members disliked his overt association with the drugs trade, which the LVF were even more heavily involved with. For his part Adair controlled a block of flats in his Lower Shankill stronghold from which he and his allies dealt drugs. Adair also sought to work closely with Belfast-based dissidents such as Frankie Curry and Jackie Mahood , provoking further anger from

13886-429: Was a lieutenant colonel in the UDA's "C" Company, 2nd Battalion Shankill Road; in 1975 he rose to the rank of brigadier, having command of the West Belfast Brigade. He had taken over the brigade from Charles Harding Smith , the former leader of the UDA, and its first commander following the organisation's formation. Although Andy Tyrie was the UDA's overall commander (from 1973 to 1988), brigadiers such as Lyttle enjoyed

14017-524: Was also a source of animosity as the younger members tended to view the UVF as a rival organisation despite their shared loyalism. Held in Crumlin Road Gaol from July 1991, word was sent into the prison by a new group of "Young Turks"—emerging leaders from the Shankill—that Lyttle was to be ostracised by the other UDA inmates. As a result of this edict Lyttle was moved into secure isolation on

14148-399: Was an Independent Unionist candidate for North Belfast in the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly elections. He was not elected, however, having only polled a total of 560 votes. Along with Tommy Herron and Billy Hull he was one of three leading UDA figures to stand for election in Belfast, with all three failing to win a seat. He took his loss in stride with the statement: "It's not such

14279-626: Was arrested by the John Stevens Enquiry team after his fingerprints were found on a stolen classified document which was a security forces list of suspected republicans , likely to be used by loyalist paramilitaries for targeting people to be assassinated by hit squads. He was brought before Belfast's Crumlin Road Court where he was convicted of receiving and passing on classified security force intelligence files and intimidating potential witnesses. Although sentenced to seven years imprisonment, he

14410-532: Was chosen as Brigadier and he set in place a new decentralised structure in which the commanders of A, B and C companies (at the time Matt Kincaid , Jim Spence and William "Winkie" Dodds respectively) would be given a freer hand in their activities. However Irvine was arrested as part of the inquiries in August 1990 and was very briefly replaced by Ken Barrett . Barrett was quickly ousted by Lyttle's choice, his brother-in-law Billy Kennedy but in October 1990 Jim Spence, who had also been taken into prison as part of

14541-463: Was considerable animosity between the two UDA men, as Craig had allegedly impregnated one of Lyttle's daughters. Following the televised Milltown Cemetery attack by loyalist Michael Stone in March 1988, Lyttle released a statement claiming that Stone had operated alone without sanction from the UDA's Inner Council as he felt that such commando-style attacks would inevitably bring retaliation from republican paramilitaries, making open warfare between

14672-520: Was convicted on 6 September 1995 and sentenced to 16 years in the Maze prison. As is standard practice in the UDA, Adair vacated his position as Brigadier upon entering prison, with his friend Winkie Dodds succeeding him. Adair was held with other loyalist prisoners in their "block" of the prison. In prison, according to some reports, Adair sold drugs such as cannabis, ecstasy tablets and amphetamines to other loyalist prisoners, earning him an income of £5,000

14803-404: Was due to take place), about twenty Adair supporters, including White and Adair's wife, fled their homes for Scotland after 100 heavily armed men from the mainstream UDA invaded Adair's stronghold, forcing them to quit Northern Ireland. Following the ousting of C Company from the Shankill Road, Adair's family and supporters went to Bolton where they garnered the nickname 'Bolton Wanderers' after

14934-441: Was handed a six-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to various offences. It has been suggested that the lenience of his sentence may have been influenced by Lyttle himself being a Royal Ulster Constabulary agent although this has not been confirmed. The collapse of the old leadership cleared the way for younger, more militant members to take control of the brigade and launch a new era of activity. The Stevens Inquiries led to

15065-629: Was hugely unpopular due to the double-crossing nature of the attack and Courtney went into hiding in Carrickfergus for fear of retaliation. He was charged with the murder, along with Ihab Shoukri , a few days later. He was acquitted by a Diplock court after the evidence was adjudged flawed, although a retrial was later ordered and he was ultimately given an eight-year jail sentence after pleading guilty to manslaughter . Jim Spence, who had conspired with McDonald to bring about Adair's downfall, replaced Courtney as Brigadier following his arrest. Adair, who

15196-410: Was instrumental in the establishment of the UDA in September 1971, having begun military training of its members two months earlier. In 1972, when Jim Anderson was serving as acting chairman of the UDA, a West Belfast battalion was formed as a separate part of the UDA, such was the volume of membership within the area. The battalion was divided into three separate companies: A Company, which was based on

15327-578: Was killed by B Company on 22 September 1988. Slane was shot dead at his Falls Road home with the UDA claiming he was a member of the Irish People's Liberation Organisation . The most notorious killing was that of solicitor Pat Finucane in February 1989, carried out by brigade member Ken Barrett using information provided by RUC Special Branch . Lyttle was arrested as part of the Stevens Inquiries and

15458-428: Was later sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the murder. Adair and his close ally Dodds were targeted by the IRA in October 1993 when republican intelligence witnessed the two entering Frizzell's fish shop on the Shankill Road to access West Belfast Brigade headquarters in the room above. The Shankill Road bombing that followed killed nine civilians and one of the bombers but Adair and Dodds had already left by

15589-484: Was made a brigadier. He served as the UDA's spokesman as well as the leader of the organisation's West Belfast Brigade from 1975 until his arrest and imprisonment in 1990. According to journalists Henry McDonald and Brian Rowan, and the Pat Finucane Centre , he became a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) Special Branch informer. Lyttle was born in Belfast and grew up in the loyalist Shankill Road area in

15720-572: Was made on his life. He was not replaced; instead the organisation was run by its Inner Council. With the West Belfast UDA brigadier and spokesman Tommy Lyttle in prison and gradually eased out of the leadership, Adair, as the most ambitious of the "Young Turks", established himself as head of the UDA's "C Company", 2nd Battalion based on the Shankill. Adair formed a so-called "Dream Team" of active gunmen, with many of his friends from his former skinhead gang including Sam "Skelly" McCrory, Mo Courtney , "Fat" Jackie Thompson, and Donald Hodgen recruited into

15851-480: Was made. Nonetheless the killings continued, with C Company becoming the most active, under the command of William "Winkie" Dodds . They struck again, based on Nelson's list, on 10 May 1988 with the murder of Terence McDaid. This murder however was an error as the actual target had been his older brother Declan, whose striking physical resemblance to Terence meant that C Company had received the wrong photograph from Nelson. Nelson also provided details on Gerard Slane, who

15982-405: Was mooting a comeback from prison, attacked Spence constantly in the press for his perceived treachery, although ultimately Adair left Belfast following his 2005 release. Seen as something of an undesirable by others in the UDA, Spence was removed as Brigadier in 2006 in favour of Matt Kincaid . As of 2015, Kincaid remains in charge of the now much less influential West Belfast Brigade. In 2013, it

16113-605: Was named his replacement, although Adair remained in control as Dodds followed the orders he sent out from prison. Following Adair's lead, Dodds expanded the drug-dealing empire that the West Belfast Brigade had begun to develop. Adair also pursued a policy of linking up with the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) and following the Irish National Liberation Army 's killing of LVF leader Billy Wright in December 1997, he sent McKeag out to wreak revenge, despite

16244-505: Was one of the few veterans to remain in power and his incarceration during the Stevens Enquiry was to prove the catalyst for his removal from command, with Tommy Irvine succeeding him as West Belfast brigadier. By 1989–90, information regarding UDA operations was being deliberately withheld from Lyttle "because he was thought to be not reliable". His close personal relationship with Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) chief John "Bunter" Graham

16375-472: Was recruited by the FRU to infiltrate the UDA's intelligence structure, to compile targeting information on a Catholic solicitor Pat Finucane from a republican family prior to his killing in 1989. "Ingram" stated he knew with "iron cast certainty" that Lyttle was working as an informer for Special Branch at the time of the Finucane killing. According to Andy Tyrie , Lyttle was reluctant to become personally involved in

16506-621: Was released in 1994 on remission. Journalists Henry McDonald and Brian Rowan, in company with the Pat Finucane Centre , later revealed that Lyttle was an informer working for the RUC's Special Branch with the codename "Rodney Stewart". A former officer from the Force Research Unit (the covert military intelligence agent-handling unit based in Northern Ireland) using the pseudonym " Martin Ingram " suggested that Lyttle ordered Nelson, who

16637-499: Was reported in the Belfast Telegraph that the leadership of the West Belfast Brigade was once again at loggerheads with the rest of the organisation. According to the report, the West Belfast Brigade had become so associated with criminality and racketeering that the three other Belfast-based brigadiers, Jackie McDonald (South Belfast), Jimmy Birch (East Belfast) and John Bunting (North Belfast), no longer felt able to deal with

16768-505: Was seen firing rifles, stating it was the first time he had done so without wearing gloves. In November 2008, Adair appeared in an episode of Danny Dyer 's Deadliest Men which profiled fellow C Company inmate Sam "Skelly" McCrory. On 20 July 2015 three Irish republicans (Antoin Duffy, Martin Hughes and Paul Sands) were found guilty of planning to murder Adair and Sam McCrory. Charges against one of

16899-572: Was shot and killed at his home by C Company the following night. The feud continued with 4 more being killed on both sides until an uneasy truce was made. The militancy of the West Belfast Brigade, and in particular Adair, who had become a cult hero among loyalists, meant that the brigade enjoyed the loyalty of some UDA members outside its nominal geographic area. Within the North Belfast Brigade an influx of new young members found more to admire in Adair than in their own brigadier Jimbo Simpson, and affiliated to

17030-484: Was the highest-ranking British intelligence agent in the UDA, had seized on Notorantonio at the last minute after being informed by his handlers that his initial first target was actually a high-ranking British agent in the Provisional Irish Republican Army known as " Stakeknife " (believed to be Freddie Scappaticci ). "Stakeknife" was seen as much too important to be killed and so a last minute switch

17161-535: Was tried for the latter murder but was acquitted due to lack of evidence. Michael Edwards was killed in Finaghy on 3 September and Paddy Mahon on 15 October before McKeag was finally arrested in connection with the Hughes murder. McKeag was soon back in action and by 1994 Dodds was close to Derek Adgey, a Royal Marine who provided details of republicans to Dodds that were then used by C Company, in particular their leading gunman McKeag. McKeag would fall out of favour later in

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