Loyalist murder set up by Glasgow Rangers fans

THE murder of UDA boss John Gregg was set up by other Glasgow Rangers supporters, it was claimed last night.

Fans belonging to the rival UDA faction were on their way home in the same ferry as Gregg when they tipped off associates who organised an ambush.

Only minutes after Gregg was picked up by a taxi, he was attacked and shot dead in the docks area of Belfast. Loyalist sources said people close to Johnny ‘Mad Dog’ Adair’s C Company were among dozens of paramilitaries who attended yesterday’s Rangers match at Ibrox.

“There were people from the lower Shankill on the boat. Somebody on board would have known exactly what time he came off,” said a source.

The killing of Gregg, 45, the UDA’s South East Antrim commander and a member of the inner council, has sparked fears of a bloodbath among rival loyalist groupings.

As leading members from the organisation were preparing to meet to discuss its repercussions, two men were last night being questioned by detectives in connection with the murder.

Members of the mainstream UDA were in no doubt that Adair’s group was behind the killing. Half an hour before the boat docked, two taxis, thought to have been used in the attack, were hijacked in Argyle Court in the Shankill area of west Belfast.

One of the taxis, was later found abandoned in Gardner Street in the Peter’s Hill area, close to Adair’s stronghold in the lower Shankill estate.

The death in hospital of a second man, UDA member Robert Carson, 33, shot in the attack, has brought the number of dead to four since the present feud began.

Two other men, including the taxi driver, were wounded in the ambush which occurred as the cab stopped at traffic lights at the junction of Nelson Street and Great George’s Street.

The taxi driver was in a critical condition in hospital, while the other man’s injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.

The latest outrage follows the murder of two men over Christmas and New Year. Jonathan Stewart, 22, was shot dead by associates of Adair at a party on Stephen's DayBoxing Day in the Shankill Road area.

On January 2, Roy Green, a UDA member who sided with the renegade Shankill UFF boss, was shot dead in revenge.

But the murder of Gregg marks a serious escalation of the feud with fears among security chiefs that it could spiral out of control.

Gregg had been a marked man since he was involved in the decision to expel Adair and his close associate John White from the organisation in September.

Late last year, rival loyalists placed a booby trap bomb underneath his car outside his home on the Rathcoole Estate on the outskirts of north Belfast.

This was followed by pipe bomb attacks on his house. Adair was returned to prison last month after Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy revoked his licence for his involvement in a litany of terrorist crimes.

However, the attacks have continued since his return to Maghaberry Prison.

Meanwhile, the surviving four member of the UDA’s inner council are expected to meet within days to decide their response to the latest attack.

“There will be no knee-jerk reaction. They will sit down in the cold light of day and decide what they are going to do,” said a source.