UDA West Belfast Brigade
Encyclopedia
The UDA West Belfast Brigade is the section of the Northern Irish
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

 loyalist
Ulster loyalism
Ulster loyalism is an ideology that is opposed to a united Ireland. It can mean either support for upholding Northern Ireland's status as a constituent part of the United Kingdom , support for Northern Ireland independence, or support for loyalist paramilitaries...

 paramilitary group the Ulster Defence Association
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association is the largest although not the deadliest loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during "The Troubles"...

 (UDA) based in the western quarter of Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

 in the Greater Shankill area. Initially a battalion, the West Belfast Brigade emerged from the local "defence associations" active in the Shankill and became the first section to be officially designated as a separate entity within the wider UDA structure. During the 1970s and 1980s the West Belfast Brigade was involved in a series of killings as part of the Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...

 as well as establishing a significant presence as an outlet for racketeering.

The Brigade reached the apex of its notoriety during the 1990s when Johnny Adair
Johnny Adair
Jonathan Adair, better known as Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair is the former leader of the "C Company", 2nd Battalion Shankill Road, West Belfast Brigade of the "Ulster Freedom Fighters" . This was a cover name used by the Ulster Defence Association , an Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisation...

 emerged as its leading figure. Under Adair's direction the West Belfast Brigade in general and its sub-unit "C Company" in particular became associated with a killing spree in the neighbouring Catholic nationalist
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...

 districts of west Belfast. With Adair and his supporters suspicious of the developing Northern Ireland peace process
Northern Ireland peace process
The peace process, when discussing the history of Northern Ireland, is often considered to cover the events leading up to the 1994 Provisional Irish Republican Army ceasefire, the end of most of the violence of the Troubles, the Belfast Agreement, and subsequent political developments.-Towards a...

 and the Combined Loyalist Military Command
Combined Loyalist Military Command
The Combined Loyalist Military Command was an umbrella body for loyalist paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland set up in the early 1990s, recalling the earlier Ulster Army Council and Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee....

 ceasefire of 1994 the West Belfast Brigade increasingly came to operate as a rogue group within the UDA, feuding with rival loyalists in the Ulster Volunteer Force
Ulster Volunteer Force
The Ulster Volunteer Force is a loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in late 1965 or early 1966 and named after the Ulster Volunteer Force of 1913. The group's volunteers undertook an armed campaign of almost thirty years during The Troubles...

 before splitting from the UDA altogether in late 2002. Ultimately Adair was forced out and the Brigade was brought back into the mainstream UDA. It continues to organise, albeit with much less significance than in its heyday.

Origins

The origins of the UDA lay in west Belfast with the formation of vigilante groups such as the Shankill Defence Association
Shankill Defence Association
The Shankill Defence Association was a loyalist vigilante group formed in May 1969 for the defence of the loyalist Shankill Road area of Belfast, Northern Ireland during the communal disturbances that year....

 and the Woodvale Defence Association
Woodvale Defence Association
The Woodvale Defence Association was a loyalist vigilante group in the Woodvale district of Belfast.The organisation grew from a few smaller vigilante groups. It initially met in a pigeon fancier's club on Leopold Street, a location found on the initiative of Charles Harding Smith, who kept some...

. The latter, formed by Charles Harding Smith
Charles Harding Smith
Charles Harding Smith was a loyalist leader in Northern Ireland and the first effective leader of the Ulster Defence Association...

, became the largest of a number of similar groups and was instrumental in the establishment of the UDA in September 1971, having begun military training of its members two months earlier. In 1972, when Jim Anderson
Jim Anderson (loyalist)
James "Jim" Anderson was a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary who from April to December 1972 was the acting leader of the Ulster Defence Association while its commander and the founder of the organisation, Charles Harding Smith was in jail on remand for gun-running...

 was serving as acting chairman of the UDA, a West Belfast battalion was formed as a separate part of the UDA such was the volume of membership within the area. The battalion was divided into three separate companies viz. A Company which was based on the Highfield estate with some members in Glencairn, B Company which covered the Woodvale area and C Company for the Shankill Road itself. Battalions covering the other three areas of Belfast as well as South-East Antrim
UDA South East Antrim Brigade
The UDA South East Antrim Brigade was one of the six paramilitaries of the Ulster Defence Association . It operated in County Antrim, mainly in Newtownabbey, Larne and Antrim. The Guardian has identified it as "one of the most dangerous factions"...

 and North Antrim and Londonderry were formed soon afterwards and before long these were re-designated as brigades after the UDA experienced a rush of members.

Charles Harding Smith

The Battalion fell under the initial control of Davy Fogel
Davy Fogel
David "Davy" Fogel also known as "Big Dave" , was a former loyalist and a leading member of the loyalist vigilante Woodvale Defence Association which later merged with other groups becoming the Ulster Defence Association...

, under whose leadership the group undertook a programme of erecting barricades between the Shankill and the neighbouring republican
Irish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

 Falls and Springfield Roads. However the local strongman was Harding Smith, who had been held in prison on charges of gun-running in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. When he returned in early 1973 Harding Smith ran Fogel out of the area and became commander of the Battalion himself, whilst also becoming joint chairman of the UDA as a whole with Anderson.

Harding Smith soon became embroiled in a feud
Loyalist feud
A loyalist feud refers to any of the sporadic feuds which have erupted almost routinely between Northern Ireland's various loyalist paramilitary groups since they were founded shortly before and after the religious/political conflict known as The Troubles broke out in the late 1960s...

 with East Belfast leader Tommy Herron
Tommy Herron
Tommy Herron was a loyalist from Northern Ireland, and a leading member of the Ulster Defence Association up until his fatal shooting. Herron controlled the UDA in East Belfast, one of its two earliest strongholds...

, whilst also facing a growing rival in his own area in the shape of Andy Tyrie
Andy Tyrie
Andrew "Andy" Tyrie is an Ulster loyalist and served as commander of the Ulster Defence Association during much of its early history...

, the commander of A Company. Tyrie was chosen as the overall Chairman of the UDA in 1973, with Anderson off the scene. Tyrie had initially been seen as a compromise candidate between the two real powerhouses of Harding Smith and Herron but before long he began to assert his independence. Herron was killed in late 1973 but soon after he and Harding Smith became openly hostile after Tyrie sanctioned a trip by UDA activists to Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....

. Harding Smith publicly condemned the move, arguing that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...

 was a friend of the Provisional IRA, and in January 1975 he announced the secession of the West Belfast Brigade from the UDA. However after a power struggle Harding Smith was driven out of Northern Ireland following two failed attempts on his life, according to Peter Taylor
Peter Taylor (Journalist)
Peter Taylor born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire is a British journalist and documentary-maker who had covered for many years the political and armed conflict in Northern Ireland, widely known as the Troubles...

 by one of Tyrie's men. The West Belfast Brigade was immediately returned to the mainstream UDA fold.

The west Belfast area also saw the formation in 1973 of the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) by former Harding Smith ally John White
John White (loyalist)
John White is a former leading loyalist in Northern Ireland. He was sometimes known by the nickname 'Coco'. White was a leading figure in the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association and, following a prison sentence for murder, entered politics as a central figure in the Ulster Democratic...

. Modelled on the Red Hand Commando, the UFF was to be an armed elite of killing units to be nominally separate from the legal UDA but actually a flag of convenience under which UDA members could kill Catholic targets. The model soon spread from west Belfast to the rest of the UDA.

Tommy Lyttle

When Harding Smith left Northern Ireland in 1975 Tommy Lyttle
Tommy Lyttle
Tommy "Tucker" Lyttle , was a high-ranking Northern Irish loyalist who was a member of the Ulster Defence Association . He served as the UDA's spokesman as well as the leader of the organisation's West Belfast Brigade from 1975 until his arrest and imprisonment in 1990...

 was chosen as his replacement as Brigadier. Under Lyttle however the West Belfast Brigade entered a period of stagnation and from being the main area of activity it fell way behind the new centres of North and South Belfast. A rare foray into murder by a member of brigade proved somewhat disastrous during the 1977 Ulster Workers' Council strike. Kenny McClinton
Kenny McClinton
Kenneth McClinton is a Northern Irish pastor and sometime political activist. During his early years McClinton was an active member of the Ulster Defence Association...

 stopped a bus as part of a road blockade and entering the vehicle shot and killed the driver Harry Bradshaw, a Protestant. This, along with press revelations that the UDA had written a letter of apology to his widow in which they enclosed a ten pound note, helped to further undermine the already unpopular strike. During the 1980s James Craig
James Craig (loyalist)
James Pratt "Jim" Craig was a Northern Irish loyalist, who served as a fund-raiser for the Ulster Defence Association and sat on its Inner Council. He also ran a large protection racket from west Belfast's Shankill Road area, where he lived...

, another former associate of Harding Smith, had been attached to the West Belfast Brigade as "fundraiser-in-chief", a role which saw the Brigade move increasingly towards racketeering. Craig particularly favoured protection racket
Protection racket
A protection racket is an extortion scheme whereby a criminal group or individual coerces a victim to pay money, supposedly for protection services against violence or property damage. Racketeers coerce reticent potential victims into buying "protection" by demonstrating what will happen if they...

s that targeted Belfast's building firms and gained a lot of money through these, both for the Brigade and for himself. Arrested in 1985 for racketeering the case collapsed and he returned to the Shankill but was soon asked to leave because of his personal enrichment and he left to link up the John McMichael
John McMichael
John "Big John" McMichael was a leading Northern Irish loyalist who rose to become the most prominent figure within the Ulster Defence Association as the Deputy Commander and leader of its South Belfast Brigade. He was also commander of the organisation's cover name, the "Ulster Freedom Fighters"...

's South Belfast Brigade instead. According to Billy "Twister" McQuiston
Billy "Twister" McQuiston
William "Billy" McQuiston, also known as Twister" William "Billy" McQuiston, also known as Twister" William "Billy" McQuiston, also known as Twister" (born c.1958 in Belfast, Northern Ireland is a former loyalist, who was a high-ranking member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). Leader of the...

, a member of the West Belfast Brigade, the activities of the Brigade during the 1980s helped to make the UDA unpopular on the Shankill as they were identified with gangsterism.

Despite this the West Belfast Brigade saw an influx of new young members in the 1980s and before long Lyttle came under pressure to give them something to do. Lyttle shared Craig's predilection for gangsterism but was less interested in murder and so turned to his intelligence officer Brian Nelson
Brian Nelson (1948–2003)
Brian Nelson was a Northern Ireland British Army Intelligence Corps agent who also operated as the intelligence chief of the loyalist Ulster Defence Association paramilitary organisation.-Early life:...

 who drew up a list of leading republican targets and October 1987 Nelson dispatched a group of raw recruits to the nationalist Ballymurphy area to kill the first of these, a 66 year old taxi driver by the name of Francisco Notorantonio. Despite appearing on the list Notorantonio had only ever been very loosely connected to the Irish Republican Army
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...

 and Sinn Fein
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

 and had ended his active associations with republicanism several years earlier. In fact Nelson, who was the highest-ranking British intelligence agent in the UDA, had seized on Notorantonio at the last minute after being informed by his handlers that his initial first target was actually the high-ranking Provisional Irish Republican Army
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...

 mole "Stakeknife
Stakeknife
Stakeknife is the code name of an alleged spy who infiltrated the Provisional Irish Republican Army at a high level, while working for the top secret Force Research Unit of the British Army...

", believed to be Freddie Scappaticci
Freddie Scappaticci
Freddie Scappaticci was accused in the Irish and British media on 11 May 2003 of being a high-level double agent in the Provisional Irish Republican Army , known by the codename Stakeknife.-Early life:...

. "Stakeknife" was seen as much too important to be killed and so a last minute switch was made. Nonetheless the killings continued with C Company becoming the most active under the command of William "Winkie" Dodds
William "Winkie" Dodds
William "Winkie" Dodds is a Northern Irish loyalist activist. He was a leading member of the West Belfast Brigade of the Ulster Defence Association and for a number of years a close ally of Johnny Adair...

. They struck again, based on Nelson's list, on 10 May 1988 with the murder of Terence McDaid. This murder however was an error as the actual target had been his older brother Declan, whose striking physical resemblance to Terence meant that C Company had received the wrong photograph from Nelson. Nelson also provided details on Gerard Slane, who was killed by B Company on 22 September 1988 Gerard Slane was shot dead at his Falls Road home with the UDA claiming he was a member of the Irish People's Liberation Organisation
Irish People's Liberation Organisation
The Irish People's Liberation Organisation was a small Irish republican paramilitary organization which was formed in 1986 by disaffected and expelled members of the Irish National Liberation Army whose factions coalesced in the aftermath of the supergrass trials...

. The most notorious killing however was that of solicitor Pat Finucane
Pat Finucane (solicitor)
Patrick Finucane was a Catholic Belfast solicitor killed by loyalist paramilitaries on 12 February 1989. His killing was one of the most controversial during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Finucane came to prominence due to successfully challenging the British Government over several important...

 in February 1989, carried out by brigade member Ken Barrett using information provided by Special Branch
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security in British and Commonwealth police forces, as well as in the Royal Thai Police...

.

Lyttle was arrested as part of the Stevens Inquiries and was handed a six year prison sentence after pleading guilty to various offences. It has been suggested that the lenience of his sentence may have been influenced by Lyttle himself being a Royal Ulster Constabulary
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...

 agent although this has not been confirmed. The collapse of the old leadership cleared the way for younger, more militant members to take control of the Brigade and launch a new era of activity.

Emergence of Johnny Adair

The Stevens Inquiries led to a period of chaos within the West Belfast Brigade, with a rapid succession of brigadiers and a number of leading members spending time in prison. Lyttle's arrest in early 1990 saw him relinquish the role of Brigadier, whilst the allegations that he was an informer saw him disowned by the rest of the Brigade with four others following him before the year was out. Stability initially looked set when Tommy Irvine was chosen as Brigadier and he set in place a new decentralised structure in which the commanders of A, B and C companies, at the time Matt Kincaid, Jim Spence
Jim Spence (loyalist)
Jim Spence is a Northern Irish former loyalist activist. Spence became notorious for his time in the Ulster Defence Association , serving two spells as Brigadier in West Belfast...

 and William "Winkie" Dodds
William "Winkie" Dodds
William "Winkie" Dodds is a Northern Irish loyalist activist. He was a leading member of the West Belfast Brigade of the Ulster Defence Association and for a number of years a close ally of Johnny Adair...

 respectively, would be given a freer hand in their activities. However Irvine was arrested as part of the inquiries in August 1990 and was very briefly replaced by Ken Barrett
Ken Barrett
Ken Barrett is a Northern Irish former loyalist paramilitary. A leading figure within the Ulster Defence Association , Barrett has been at the centre of allegations about collusion between loyalists and the British security forces during the Troubles.-Early years:Barrett was a native of the...

. Barrett was quickly ousted by Lyttle's choice, his brother-in-law Billy Kennedy but in October 1990 Jim Spence, who had also been taken into prison as part of the Stevens Inquires, assumed overall control of the Brigade. One of his first acts was to appoint an officer in overall control of the Brigade's military activities and he chose his friend Johnny Adair
Johnny Adair
Jonathan Adair, better known as Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair is the former leader of the "C Company", 2nd Battalion Shankill Road, West Belfast Brigade of the "Ulster Freedom Fighters" . This was a cover name used by the Ulster Defence Association , an Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisation...

 for this role. Adair also replaced Dodds, who faced a longer spell in prison, as head of C Company.

Under Adair's direction the West Belfast Brigade became notorious for its killing spree, with his leading gunman Stephen "Top Gun" McKeag
Stephen McKeag
Stephen McKeag , known as Topgun or Top Gun, was a Northern Irish loyalist who became one of the most notorious figures within the Ulster Defence Association's 'C' Company in the 1990s...

 in particular becoming notorious. His first killing had actually occurred before the emergence of Adair on 11 March 1990 in the Clonard district of the Falls Road. Several more followed however with police estimated that McKeag committed at least 12 murders and former members of C Company putting the figure even higher.

Adair in charge

Spence was arrested on charges of extortion in March 1993 and gave up the role of Brigadier with Johnny Adair succeeding him. As Brigadier he continued on the same bloody path that he had followed as military commander. One such victim was Noel Cardwell, a mentally sub-normal glass collector at a C Company bar, "the Diamond Jubilee", who was seen as a figure of fun by Adair and his cohorts. In December 1993 Cardwell was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast
Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast
The Royal Victoria Hospital is a hospital in Belfast, Northern Ireland....

 after suffering a bad reaction when his drink was spiked with an ecstasy tablet by a member of C Company. Whilst in the hospital he was visited by members of the RUC who asked him who he had been drinking with. Cardwell named the UDA members he was with, having failed to grasp the code of secrecy governing the UDA. In order to send a message to informers Adair had Cardwell abducted following his release from hospital and subjected to a long and brutal interrogation process. He was shot and left to bleed to death with C Company member Gary McMaster later sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the murder. Adair and his close ally Dodds were targeted by the Provisional IRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...

 in October 1993 when republican intelligence witnessed the two entering Frizzell's fish shop on the Shankill Road to access West Belfast Brigade headquarters in the room above. The Shankill Road bombing
Shankill Road bombing
The Shankill Road bombing was carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army on 23 October 1993 and is one of the most notorious incidents of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The Provisional IRA's intended target was a meeting of loyalist paramilitary leaders, which was to take place above...

 that followed killed nine civilians and one of the bombers but Adair and Dodds had already left by the time the bomb detonated.

McKeag's killing spree continued under Adair's brigadiership, starting on 1 May 1993 when former Provisional IRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...

 member Alan Lundy was killed Ardoyne
Ardoyne
Ardoyne is an Irish nationalist, working class and mainly Catholic district in north Belfast, Northern Ireland. It gained notoriety due to the large number of incidents during "The Troubles". It is home to approximately 20,000 inhabitants...

. Sean Lavery, the son of a Sinn Fein councillor, was killed on 8 August with Marie Teresa Dowds de Mogollon killed on 30 Augus. and Sean Hughes killed at his Donegall Road
Donegall Road
The Donegall Road runs from Shaftesbury Square in Belfast city centre to the Falls Road in west Belfast. It is bisected by the Westlink, and the largest part of the road, prior to the Westlink junction, is predominantly unionist...

 shop on 7 September. McKeag was tried for the latter murder but was acquitted due to lack of evidence. Michael Edwards was killed in Finaghy on 8 September and Paddy Mahon on 15 October before McKeag was finally arrested in connection with the Hughes murder. McKeag was soon back in action and by 1994 Dodds was close to Derek Adgey, a Royal Marine who provided details of republicans to Dodds that were then used by C Company, in particular their leading gunman Stephen McKeag. McKeag would fall out of favour later in the decade, in part because of jealousy within C Company of his "achievements" and he was found dead in suspicious circumstances in September 2000.

On 16 May 1994 around twenty leading figures in C Company were arrested as part of an RUC operation against the notorious group. Although a number of those arrested were released without charge Adair was imprisoned, forcing him to vacate his role as Brigadier. His close ally Winkie Dodds was named his replacement although Adair's remained in control as Dodds followed the orders he sent out from prison. Following Adair's lead Dodds expanded the drug-dealing empire that the West Belfast Brigade had begun to develop. Adair also pursued a policy of linking up with the Loyalist Volunteer Force
Loyalist Volunteer Force
The Loyalist Volunteer Force is a loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed by Billy Wright in 1996 when he and the Portadown unit of the Ulster Volunteer Force's Mid-Ulster Brigade was stood down by the UVF leadership. He had been the commander of the Mid-Ulster Brigade. The...

 (LVF) and following the Irish National Liberation Army
Irish National Liberation Army
The Irish National Liberation Army or INLA is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group that was formed on 8 December 1974. Its goal is to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a socialist united Ireland....

's killing of LVF leader Billy Wright
Billy Wright (loyalist)
William Stephen "Billy" Wright was a prominent Ulster loyalist during the period of violent religious/political conflict known as "The Troubles". He joined the Ulster Volunteer Force in 1975 and became commander of its Mid-Ulster Brigade in the early 1990s...

 in December 1997 he sent McKeag out to wreak revenge, despite the UDA being on ceasefire. McKeag struck on 28 December by machine gunning the Clifton Tavern in north Belfast killing Edmund Trainor and injuring several others. He followed this on 23 January 1998 by killing Liam Conway on north Belfast's Hesketh Road. The Inner Council of the UDA brought McKeag to task for this killing but he was not disciplined, despite the murder seeing the Ulster Democratic Party
Ulster Democratic Party
The Ulster Democratic Party was a small loyalist political party in Northern Ireland. It was established in June 1981 as the Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party by the Ulster Defence Association to replace their New Ulster Political Research Group...

 left out of all-party talks. The West Belfast Brigade meanwhile continued to assort freely with the LVF, a splinter group of the Ulster Volunteer Force
Ulster Volunteer Force
The Ulster Volunteer Force is a loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in late 1965 or early 1966 and named after the Ulster Volunteer Force of 1913. The group's volunteers undertook an armed campaign of almost thirty years during The Troubles...

 (UVF) and a bitter rival of that group, active alongside LVF members at the Drumcree conflict
Drumcree conflict
The Drumcree conflict or Drumcree standoff is an ongoing dispute over a yearly parade in the town of Portadown, Northern Ireland. The dispute is between the Orange Order and local residents. The residents are currently represented by the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition ; before 1995 they were...

 Under Adair the West Belfast Brigade moved closer to a feud with the UVF.

UVF feud

On 19 August 2000 the West Belfast Brigade hosted a "Loyalist Day of Culture" organised by Adair on the Lower Shankill with fellow brigadiers John Gregg
John Gregg (UDA)
John Gregg was a senior member of the UDA/UFF loyalist organisation in Northern Ireland. From the 1990s until his shooting death by rival associates, he served as brigadier of its South East Antrim Brigade...

, Billy McFarland
Billy McFarland
William "Billy" McFarland, also known as "the Mexican", is a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary. A leading figure in the Ulster Defence Association , he has served as head of the North Antrim and Londonderry Brigade of the group.-Early years:...

, Jackie McDonald
Jackie McDonald
John "Jackie" McDonald is a senior Northern Irish loyalist and the incumbent Ulster Defence Association brigadier for South Belfast, having been promoted to the rank by former UDA commander Andy Tyrie in 1988, following John McMichael's killing by the Provisional IRA in December 1987...

 and Jimbo Simpson
Jimbo Simpson
James "Jimbo" Simpson, also known as the Bacardi Brigadier, is a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary. He is most noted for his time as Brigadier of the North Belfast Ulster Defence Association...

 in attendance. However early in the day clashes broke out between UDA and UVF members outside the Diamond Jubilee, a UDA bar, and later UDA members attacked the UVF stronghold Rex Bar further up the road, firing shots at the UVF men trapped inside. In response drove all UVF members and their families out of the lower Shankill and in doing so began the feud that his fellow brigadiers had hoped to avoid. Orders were sent up to A Company in Highfield by Dodds that the estate should be "cleansed" of UVF members. The UVF struck back on 21 August, killing two of Adair's allies, Jackie Coulter and Bobby Mahood, on the Crumlin Road
Crumlin Road
The Crumlin Road is a main road in north-west Belfast, Northern Ireland. The road runs from north of Belfast City Centre for about four miles to the outskirts of the city. It also forms part of the longer A52 road.-Lower Crumlin Road:...

. In response C Company members burned down the headquarters of the UVF-linked Progressive Unionist Party
Progressive Unionist Party
The Progressive Unionist Party is a small unionist political party in Northern Ireland. It was formed from the Independent Unionist Group operating in the Shankill area of Belfast, becoming the PUP in 1979...

. However Adair was arrested on 22 August 2000 whilst he and Dodds were driving down the Shankill Road. With command reverting to Dodds, UVF member Samuel Rockett was shot and killed at his home by C Company the following night. The feud came to an uneasy truce soon afterwards.
The militancy of the West Belfast Brigade, and in particular Adair who became a cult hero among loyalists, meant that the brigade enjoyed the loyalty of some UDA members outside its nominal geographic area. Within the North Belfast Brigade an influx of new young members found more to admire Adair than their own brigadier Jimbo Simpson and affiliated to the West Belfast brigade despite not living in the area. Further afield a group of Shankill men had relocated to areas of North Down
North Down
North Down can refer to:*North Down Borough Council in Northern Ireland.*North Down in Northern Ireland.*North Down in Northern Ireland....

 such as Bangor
Bangor, County Down
Bangor is a large town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is a seaside resort on the southern side of Belfast Lough and within the Belfast Metropolitan Area. Bangor Marina is one of the largest in Ireland, and holds Blue Flag status...

 and Newtownards
Newtownards
Newtownards is a large town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. Newtownards is the largest town in the Borough of Ards. According to the 2001 Census, it has a population of 27,821 people in...

 and there had found that support amongst young loyalists for Adair was so strong that they established a new D Company for the West Belfast Brigade based in this far-removed part of Northern Ireland. The area was supposed to be part of the jurisdiction of the East Belfast Brigade.

Adair denouement

The feud had been unpopular with other Brigadiers, in particular Jackie McDonald of the South Belfast Brigade, who had emerged as the most credible rival to Adair within the UDA. Adair sought to restart the UVF feud and challenge his fellow brigadiers in September 2002 when East Belfast LVF member Stephen Warnock was killed by the Red Hand Commando. Adair spread a rumour that East Belfast Brigade chief Jim Gray
Jim Gray (UDA member)
James "Jim" Gray, , was the East Belfast brigadier of the Ulster Defence Association in Northern Ireland, a loyalist paramilitary group. He was often nicknamed "Doris Day" for his flamboyant dress sense and dyed blond hair. Another media nickname for Gray was the "Brigadier of Bling"...

 had actually been behind the murder and as a result Gray was shot and seriously injured at the Warnock family home soon afterwards. A meeting was convened of all brigadiers in an attempt to avert a crisis but nothing came of it as Adair refused to bend. When it emerged that Adair had left the meeting and went to confer with LVF allies in Ballysillan McDonald secured the agreement of the other brigadiers that Adair should be expelled from the UDA along with his spokesman John White.

Adair ignored the expulsion and erected "West Belfast UDA - Business as Usual" banners on the Shankill Road. A coterie of figures within the West Belfast Brigade, and especially Adair's C Company stronghold, remained loyal to Adair as the West Belfast Brigade split off from the rest of the UDA. However Adair's leadership became characterised by extreme paranoia. Mo Courtney
Mo Courtney
William "Mo" Courntey was an Ulster Defence Association activist. He was a leading figure in Johnny Adair's C Company, one of the most active sections of the UDA, before later falling out with Adair and serving as West Belfast brigadier.-Early years:In the late 1970s and early 1980s Courtney was...

, who served as Adair's bodyguard, was amongst those to come under suspicion because of his friendship with the North Belfast-based Shoukri brothers, whom Adair viewed as potential rivals. Adair despatched a team to kill Courtney although his friend Donald Hodgen tipped him off and Courtney escaped the Shankill before the hit could take place. Winkie Dodds, whose role had diminished considerably after a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...

, also split from Adair around this time after his cousin William "Muggsy" Mullan had been driven from the Shankill for associating with the Shoukris and "Fat" Jackie Thompson had led a punishment squad in a brutal attack on Dodds' brother Milton "Doddsy" Dodds.

The feud erupted on 26 December 2002 when members of the West Belfast Brigade murdered mainstream UDA member Jonathon Stewart at a party, an attack that saw Adair loyalist Roy Green was killed in retaliation. Adair's men then struck back on 1 February 2003, murder South East Brigade leader John Gregg and his friend Rab Carson as the two returned from watching Rangers F.C.
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...

. Gregg's killing proved the final straw, in part because he enjoyed a stellar reputation amongst loyalist for a gun attack on Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...

 in the 1980s. Adair however had a lot of bad blood with Gregg, stemming from an attack on a West Belfast Brigade member in Rathcoole
Rathcoole
Rathcoole may refer to:* Rathcoole, Dublin, a village in south Dublin, Republic of Ireland* Rathcoole , a large housing estate in Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland, UK* Rathcoole Aerodrome Co. Cork, Republic of Ireland...

 and the subsequent kneecapping of the attackers by Adair's men in Gregg's area. In December 2002 the LVF had placed a bomb under Gregg's car and soon afterwards Gregg's house and that of his ally Tommy Kirkham
Tommy Kirkham
Tommy Kirkham is a Northern Ireland loyalist political figure and former councillor. He was previously associated with the Ulster Defence Association and the Ulster Political Research Group although he has since been expelled from both groups. He was a former deputy mayor of Newtownabbey and was...

 were attacked by West Belfast men. Gregg retaliated with a bomb attack on Adair's house on 8 January, two days before the West Belfast Brigade chief was returned to jail.

McDonald made contact with A and B Companies of the West Belfast Brigade and told them that he intended to forcibly remove Adair. They accepted McDonald's leadership and established a headquarters at the Shankill's Heather Street Social Club where several members of C Company arrived in order to defect back to the mainstream UDA. Mo Courtney was amongst the big names to accept the invitation. Around 100 of McDonald's men, all heavily armed, launched an invasion of Adair's lower Shankill stronghold in the early hours of the morning of 6 February and attacked the twenty or so members of C Company who remained loyal to Adair (who had been returned to prison in January for his role in the feud), driving them out of Northern Ireland. As a result of this attack the West Belfast Brigade was brought back into the UDA.

Post-Adair

In the immediate aftermath of Adair's removal "Fat" Jackie Thompson was briefly recognised as Brigadier before Mo Courtney was officially confirmed in the role. He proved a transitory figure however as a result of the murder of Adair supporter Alan McCullough. McCullough had asked Courtney if he could return from exile in Bolton
Bolton
Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...

 and promised to tell the new brigadier the location of a large drugs stash and the home address of Gina Adair in return for his safety. Courtney agreed but when McCullough returned home he was taken by UDA members to Mallusk near Templepatrick
Templepatrick
Templepatrick is a village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is northwest of Belfast, and halfway between the towns of Ballyclare and Antrim. It had a population of 1,556 in the 2001 Census. It is also close to Belfast International Airport and the village has several hotels...

 and killed on 28 May 2003. The killing was hugely unpopular due to the double-crossing nature of the attack and Courtney went into hiding in Carrickfergus
Carrickfergus
Carrickfergus , known locally and colloquially as "Carrick", is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is located on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,201 at the 2001 Census and takes its name from Fergus Mór mac Eirc, the 6th century king...

 for fear of retaliation. He was however charged with the murder along with Ihab Shoukri a few days later. He was acquitted by a Diplock court after the evidence was adjudged flawed although a retrial was later ordered and he was ultimately given an eight year jail sentence after pleading guilty to manslaughter
Manslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...

.

Jim Spence, who had conspired with McDonald to bring about Adair's downfall, replaced Courtney as Brigadier following his arrest. Adair, who was contemplating a comeback from prison, attacked Spence constantly in the press for his perceived treachery although ultimately Adair left Belfast following his 2005 release. Seen as something of an undesirable by others in the UDA Spence was removed as Brigadier in 2006 in favour of Matt Kincaid. As of 2011 Kincaid remains in charge of the now much less influential West Belfast Brigade.

Brigadiers

  • Charles Harding Smith
    Charles Harding Smith
    Charles Harding Smith was a loyalist leader in Northern Ireland and the first effective leader of the Ulster Defence Association...

     c.1971-1975
  • Tommy Lyttle
    Tommy Lyttle
    Tommy "Tucker" Lyttle , was a high-ranking Northern Irish loyalist who was a member of the Ulster Defence Association . He served as the UDA's spokesman as well as the leader of the organisation's West Belfast Brigade from 1975 until his arrest and imprisonment in 1990...

     1975-1990
  • Tommy Irvine 1990
  • Ken Barrett
    Ken Barrett
    Ken Barrett is a Northern Irish former loyalist paramilitary. A leading figure within the Ulster Defence Association , Barrett has been at the centre of allegations about collusion between loyalists and the British security forces during the Troubles.-Early years:Barrett was a native of the...

     1990
  • Billy Kennedy 1990
  • Jim Spence
    Jim Spence (loyalist)
    Jim Spence is a Northern Irish former loyalist activist. Spence became notorious for his time in the Ulster Defence Association , serving two spells as Brigadier in West Belfast...

     1990-1993
  • Johnny Adair
    Johnny Adair
    Jonathan Adair, better known as Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair is the former leader of the "C Company", 2nd Battalion Shankill Road, West Belfast Brigade of the "Ulster Freedom Fighters" . This was a cover name used by the Ulster Defence Association , an Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisation...

     1990-1995
  • William "Winkie" Dodds
    William "Winkie" Dodds
    William "Winkie" Dodds is a Northern Irish loyalist activist. He was a leading member of the West Belfast Brigade of the Ulster Defence Association and for a number of years a close ally of Johnny Adair...

     1995-1999
  • Johnny Adair
    Johnny Adair
    Jonathan Adair, better known as Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair is the former leader of the "C Company", 2nd Battalion Shankill Road, West Belfast Brigade of the "Ulster Freedom Fighters" . This was a cover name used by the Ulster Defence Association , an Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisation...

     1999-2000
  • William "Winkie" Dodds
    William "Winkie" Dodds
    William "Winkie" Dodds is a Northern Irish loyalist activist. He was a leading member of the West Belfast Brigade of the Ulster Defence Association and for a number of years a close ally of Johnny Adair...

     2000-2002
  • Johnny Adair
    Johnny Adair
    Jonathan Adair, better known as Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair is the former leader of the "C Company", 2nd Battalion Shankill Road, West Belfast Brigade of the "Ulster Freedom Fighters" . This was a cover name used by the Ulster Defence Association , an Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisation...

     2002-2003
  • Mo Courtney
    Mo Courtney
    William "Mo" Courntey was an Ulster Defence Association activist. He was a leading figure in Johnny Adair's C Company, one of the most active sections of the UDA, before later falling out with Adair and serving as West Belfast brigadier.-Early years:In the late 1970s and early 1980s Courtney was...

     2003
  • Jim Spence
    Jim Spence (loyalist)
    Jim Spence is a Northern Irish former loyalist activist. Spence became notorious for his time in the Ulster Defence Association , serving two spells as Brigadier in West Belfast...

     2003-2006
  • Matt Kincaid 2006-date
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