Adair quizzed over assassination

FORMER paramilitary boss Johnny “Mad Dog” Adair was heavily investigated over the assassination of loyalist informer William Stobie, detectives said yesterday.

Adair, the ex-Ulster Defence Association commander, who was in jail when the organisation’s one-time quartermaster was gunned down outside his North Belfast home, refused to co-operate with police, an inquest was told.

The inquest into Stobie’s death also heard from a secret witness who saw the suspected murder team patrol outside their victim’s home in a fake taxi for five days before he was killed.

Stobie, 51, was ambushed on December 12, 2001, as he prepared to drive his partner to work. The self-confessed police special branch informer was shot four times in the head and back weeks after being acquitted of plotting to murder Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.

Former UDA associates, using the Red Hand Defenders’ pseudonym, claimed they murdered him for so-called crimes against the loyalist community because he had supported demands for an inquiry into the 1989 Finucane killing, which has been shrouded in allegations of major security force collusion.

At his inquest John Leckey, the coroner for Greater Belfast, read extracts from a biography of Adair, now exiled in Lancashire after being ousted by the organisation he once ruled.

Referring to a section that claimed the former terrorist chief gave his personal blessing to Stobie’s assassination, Mr Leckey asked Detective Chief Inspector Robert Lee if Adair was ever interviewed about the murder.

The officer said: “He wasn’t questioned as a suspect. We did try to speak to him in prison, but I could not get sufficient intelligence to support the arrest of Johnny Adair.”

Agreeing with the coroner’s assessment that the loyalist refused to co-operate, the detective added: “We did commit considerable resources and time into a line looking at Johnny Adair. There was no intelligence to connect him to the murder of William Stobie.”

Although several suspects were questioned about the killing, no one has been charged.

The inquest was also told the gun used, a .38 special magnum revolver, had been used in other shootings and killings attributed to the UDA, according to police.

Ten days before he died, Stobie was warned by officers he should move from his home on the Forthriver Estate because of threats from loyalists. But he refused to flee. Even though his partner, Lorraine Graham, alleged police did not do enough to protect him, an investigation by the Northern Ireland Police ombudsman Nuala O’Loan exonerated the force of any negligence.