Loyalist feud feared out of control as Gregg shot dead

Fears that a loyalist feud is spiralling out of control increased today after top loyalist John “Grugg” Gregg and a second man were murdered in a shooting in the docks area of Belfast.

Gregg, a leading member of the Ulster Defence Association, was gunned down in a Red Toyota taxi as he returned home from the Glasgow Rangers match in Scotland.

A member of the UDA’s inner council, Gregg was one of those who took the decision in September to expel Shankill UFF leader Johnny “Mad Dog” Adair and his close associate John White from the organisation late last year.

Loyalist sources said the remaining members of the UDA leadership would meet within days to decide its response.

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

A second man, Robert Carson, who was also in the UDA, died in hospital after the attack.

Two other men, including the taxi driver, were wounded in the ambush which took place at 10.15pm yesterday as the cab stopped at traffic lights at the junction of Nelson Street and Great George’s Street.

The other men’s injuries were understood not to be life-threatening.

The shooting is believed to be linked to the bitter fall out between the mainstream UDA and its former members from the Shankill Road’s C company, led by Johnny Adair.

Gregg, the UDA’s south-east Antrim brigadier, had been targeted twice by supporters of Adair when a booby trap device was planted under his car and a pipe bomb left outside his home in Rathcoole in the outskirts of north Belfast.

His death brings to three the number of people murdered in this latest feud.

Jonathan Stewart was shot dead at a party on St Stephen's Day in the Shankill Road area.

Supporters of Adair were blamed for this killing and one of his associates, Roy Green, was shot dead on January 2 in revenge.

Gregg, who had a wife and son and two stepdaughters, was a hero figure among many loyalists after he was jailed for 18 years for shooting Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams in 1984.

In an interview inside the Maze prison he was asked if he had any regrets over the incident. He said: “Only that I didn’t finish the job.”

Tommy Kirkham who represents the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG) which has links with the UDA, said the Gregg family were devastated by his murder.

“I know that people both in and out of the organisation are stunned by this and will recover in their own time. In the meantime we have a double funeral to plan for,” he added.

It is believed that more than 30 loyalists were on board the Stena HSS which docked from Stranraer at 10pm.

Detectives are investigating the hijacking of two taxis half an hour earlier at Argyle Court on the Shankill. One of the taxis, a blue Mondeo, was later found abandoned at Gardner’s Street in the lower Shankill.