Adair gets dossier of reasons for re-jailing

Feared loyalist terror chief Johnny “Mad Dog” Adair was today handed the damning dossier of evidence which put him back behind bars.

As he spent his first day of a new spell in a cell at the top security Maghaberry Prison in Co Antrim, senior prison officials formally presented him with the details Ulster Secretary Paul Murphy used to re-cage him.

Adair has been at the centre of a bloody loyalist paramilitary feud after he was expelled from the Ulster Defence Association last year.

Police claimed the fall-out was linked to a row over drugs, racketeering and extortion.

The Northern Ireland Office refused to say just what was in the document, but it is understood it detailed his involvement in directing acts of terrorism during the latest loyalist feud, drug dealing, extortion and money laundering.

His re-arrest is also because of his membership of a banned paramilitary organisation and for the acquisition, possession and distribution of weapons.

He can now be kept in prison until January 2005 without any other charges being brought.

An angry Adair plans to fight for his freedom and is preparing to go to court to challenge Mr Murphy.

Close associate John White visited Adair in prison today and said afterwards: “He is obviously angry at being returned to prison.”

Mr White said Adair believed he had been jailed as “a sop” to the five Ulster Defence Association chiefs he has been battling with since being thrown out of the UDA.

“He is going to fight this through the courts. We have already had a consultation with a senior barrister and will probably apply for a judicial review in the High Court to challenge the Secretary of State’s decision,” said Mr White.

He said Adair would also be seeking the assistance of the Human Rights Commission.

“We don’t think his return to prison is justified and he has been unfairly treated.

“It is against natural justice when those responsible for murder and mayhem are allowed to run free,” he added.

Mr White himself remains under threat of death from the rival loyalists and said he had stepped up his own security since Adair’s arrest.

While a new commander of the notorious “C” Company of the UFF in the Shankill Road has already taken over from Adair since his detention, Mr White remains a high profile target for opponents.

“I have taken precautions and I have increased my security and will continue to do that,” he said.

The incriminating dossier which led to Adair’s arrest on Friday evening was drawn up by the Police Service of Northern Ireland for the Secretary of State and officers are working to develop the details into evidence which could lead to charges and a stay in prison way beyond 2005.

Adair was returned to jail for breaching the conditions of his early release under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

It was the second time he was sent back to jail.

He was arrested at his home in the Lower Shankill Estate in west Belfast after the Secretary of State revoked the licence under which Adair was freed last May.

Mr Murphy said: “I am satisfied Adair is a danger to others and while he is at liberty, is likely to commit further offences.”

Adair, 39, was first returned to prison by then Secretary of State Peter Mandelson in August 2000 at the height of an earlier loyalist feud.

So far he has served half of a 16 year sentence imposed for directing terrorism – he will now have to remain behind bars until he has served two thirds.

Security chiefs hope his absence from the streets of Belfast will take the heat out of the feud which has claimed two lives in recent weeks.

Senior police officers had expressed fears of all-out war between the rival factions and many more deaths.

Earlier this week a pipe bomb exploded at the rear of Adair’s home hours before the funeral of Roy Green, one of his paramilitary associates who was gunned down in a south Belfast street last week.