Adair - the most-feared loyalist

Johnny “Mad Dog” Adair is the most feared loyalist paramilitary in Northern Ireland with a reputation which sends shudders through the hearts and minds of nationalists and republicans in his home city of Belfast.

Released from prison under the Good Friday Agreement, he was sent back to jail in August 2000 following a bloody loyalist feud which claimed seven lives.

Five of the six UDA battalions backed a decision to dump him from the organisation because of a growing alliance with members the rival Loyalist Volunteer Force.

South Belfast, North Belfast, East Belfast, south east Antrim and north Antrim/Londonderry agreed he was no longer wanted.

When Adair wed Gina in the Maze prison more than six years ago orderlies there baked them a three-tier wedding cake and invited guests ate sandwiches and sausage rolls. The couple have four children, including toddler Jay, dubbed “Mad Pup” by his father.

Adair’s heavily fortified house is in the lower Shankill area of Belfast. It is claimed he spent £25,000-30,000 on security to protect the home, which is under round-the-clock guard by associates.

During his teenage years Adair, now 39, was a member of the NF Skinz, a neo-Nazi skinhead gang which graduated from football hooliganism to sectarian violence.

He joined the Ulster Young Militants at 16 before graduating through the ranks to head one of the most notorious paramilitary units in Northern Ireland.

A senior police officer who interrogated Adair has spoken of his psyche and warned he could provoke assassination by other loyalists tired of his behaviour. “He is self-confident and certain of his case, but prison hurt him.”

The officer once suggested Adair could suffer a similar fate to previous loyalist paramilitary chiefs including Lenny Murphy, leader of the notorious Shankill Butcher gang killed by the IRA, and murdered racketeer Jim Craig.

“It won’t be the IRA, it will be his own people because he’s incapable of being a normal citizen,” he added.

In 1993 Adair was once asked if he ever had a Catholic in his car. Only a dead one, was his reply. He added: “Once you get your first Fenian blood, it is easy after that.”

He was jailed for 16 years in September 1995 for directing terrorism after a major undercover police operation.

At his Belfast Crown Court trial he was described as “dedicated to his cause which was nakedly sectarian in its hatred of those it regarded as militant republicans among whom he had lumped almost the entire Catholic population.

A glue sniffer by the age of 14, alcohol does not hold great appeal for the muscled, heavily-tattooed Adair. One source said: “He prefers spending his time listening to rap music.”

One of his pet Alsatian dogs is called Rebel.

Six months before he was first released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement he gorged on steroids to develop his physique. When he was freed for a second time earlier this year special commemorative bottles of champagne bearing his photograph were cracked open to celebrate his home-coming.

He is heavily tattooed and also has pierced nipples.

He has no real interest in soccer, but used to go jogging wearing a Glasgow Celtic football shirt in the neighbouring nationalist and republican Ardoyne area on so-called reconnaissance missions.

Adair was grazed in the head by a gunman at an open-air concert in Belfast while on weekend pre-release parole during the summer of 1998. The gunman fired from point blank range but miraculously Adair survived. He blamed republicans, but security sources said it was more likely he was hit by rival loyalists linked to extensive drug dealing.

This was one of several attempts on his life – a majority by the Provisional IRA and at least one by republican splinter group the INLA.

The IRA bombing of a Shankill Road fish shop in October 1993, when nine Protestants were killed, was an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Adair who was not present in the building.

Released on September 14, 1999 under the Good Friday Agreement, Adair’s first action was to don a bullet-proof vest.

He then took his family on an expensive holiday to his favoured holiday destination – Montego Bay, Jamaica.

He was returned to jail in August 2000 after being accused of playing a pivotal role in the loyalist feud between the UDA/UFF and their Ulster Volunteer Force rivals, which left several men dead.

One of his closest associates Andre Shoukri, 25, nicknamed The Egyptian, was arrested by police in a major surveillance operation in north Belfast last week.

Adair led supporters in clapping and cheering as Shoukri faced gun charges on Monday.

In January he lost his legal challenge to be freed. The Northern Ireland Sentence Review Commission overturned a preliminary ruling that he be released following fierce opposition to the move by former Secretary of State Peter Mandelson and Chief Constable of the then RUC Sir Ronnie Flanagan.