Major UDA rift as 'Mad Dog' Adair dumped by terror group leadership

FEARED loyalist chief Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair has been dumped by the leadership of the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association, it was claimed last night.

The organisation said: "He is no longer acceptable in our organisation." A statement appeared to confirm growing suspicions of a major rift inside the largest of the Protestant terror groups following a shooting of a major drugs dealer and rival in the North.

Adair, the UDA's west Belfast commander, was accused last night of acting as an "agent provocateur" between his organisation and the splinter Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF). Stephen Warnock, 35, was shot dead at the wheel of his BMW in Newtownards, Co Down, earlier this month.