Stobie knew he was a marked man

William Stobie knew he was living on borrowed time once his past as a Special Branch informer was exposed, friends said tonight.

With his partner Lorraine Graham, he shared a north Belfast flat, in the shadows of those he once informed on, always looking over his shoulder.

Many of his relatives turned against him when his secret life was exposed.

But it was his call for an inquiry into the 1989 murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane and admissions about his past life which sealed his fate, it was claimed.

He once said: ‘‘I get stares everywhere I go. Everybody seems to know me,no matter where I am.’’

Stobie was acquitted last month of plotting to murder Mr Finucane, and even though former associates assured him he would come to no harm, the UDA leadership took the decision to kill him.

Officers in the team headed by Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir John Stevens, who were called in to investigate the Finucane shooting, confirmed today they were asked to carry out an assessment of the risk to Stobie’s life.

Stobie was warned by Special Branch last week that his name was on a list of targets for loyalist paramilitaries.

John White, chairman of the now disbanded Ulster Democratic Party - the political wing of the UDA - said today: ‘‘Given the way he (Stobie) brazenly went on television and spoke of what he was involved in, when he joined the organisation he knew the consequences of that.

‘‘He supported the inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane. Most people inloyalism see this as republicans taking advantage of the death of PatFinucane to undermine the credibility of the RUC and the Northern Ireland entity itself.’’

Despite the assurances Stobie knew his life was always in danger. But hestayed in the home he had made with Ms Graham, who he met in 1995. She was always ‘‘100%’’ behind him, he said.

Much of his time was spent in the flat alone: ‘‘I collect Lorraine from work but it is not often I’m out,’’ he said.

He once said: ‘‘I was warned by Special Branch in 2000 that I was in danger. But we have got our flat done up really nice.’’

Speaking of his trial he said: ‘‘I am glad to be out of it. I feel sorry for the young ones who get caught up in it.’’

He added: ‘‘I lost my family through it all. They knew I was involved. Tobecome an informer is a different game.’’

He also told how he met a senior loyalist whilst out shopping, at the time his trial was ongoing: ‘‘He saw me coming out of a video shop and said ‘All right, Stobie?’ He asked me about the case. I was terrified.’’