Johnny Adair

Johnny Adair (nickname: Mad Dog) was the leader of a Belfast "company" of the loyalist paramilitary organisation Ulster Freedom Fighters, a part of the Ulster Defence Association.

Related Topics:
Belfast - Loyalist - Paramilitary - Ulster Freedom Fighters - Ulster Defence Association

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The IRA bombing of a fish shop on the Shankill Road in October 1993 was an attempt to assassinate Adair and his associates. The IRA claimed that the office above the shop was regularly used by the UDA for meetings and one was due to take place shortly after the bomb exploded. (The bomb went off early, killed one of the IRA men and nine Protestant civilians). The UFF retaliated with a random attack on the Rising Sun bar in Greysteel, near Londonderry, which killed seven people with no paramilitary connections.

Related Topics:
IRA - Shankill Road - Protestant - Greysteel - Londonderry - Paramilitary

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Undercover officers from the Royal Ulster Constabulary recorded months of discussions with Adair, in which he boasted of his activities, producing enough evidence to charge him with directing terrorism. He was convicted and sentenced to 16 years in the Long Kesh prison.

Related Topics:
Royal Ulster Constabulary - Terrorism - Long Kesh

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In January 1998, Adair was one of five loyalist prisoners visited in the prison by British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Mo Mowlam. She persuaded them to drop their objection to their political representatives continuing the talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement in April that year. Adair was released early as part of a general amnesty for political prisoners after the Agreement.

Related Topics:
Loyalist - Mo Mowlam - Good Friday Agreement - Political prisoner

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In August 2000, Adair was mildly injured by a pipe-bomb he was transporting in a car. His attempt to blame the incident on an attack by republicans was laughed off by security forces.

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In 2002, Adair was a key part of an effort to forge stronger ties between the UDA/UFF and the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), another major loyalist paramilitary organization in Northern Ireland. The most open declaration of this was a joint mural depicting Adair's UDA "C company" and the LVF. Other elements in the UDA/UFF strongly resisted these movements, which they saw as an attempt by Adair to win external support in a bid to take over the leadership of the UDA. Some UDA members disliked his overt association with the drugs trade, which the LVF were even more heavily involved with. A loyalist feud began, and ended with several men dead and scores evicted from their homes. On 25 September, 2002, Adair was expelled from the UDA/UFF along with close associate John White, and the organisation almost split as Adair tried to woo influential leaders such as André Shoukri, who were initially sympathetic to him. There were attempts on Adair's and White's lives.

Related Topics:
Loyalist Volunteer Force - Loyalist feud - 25 September - 2002 - John White - André Shoukri

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Adair returned to prison in January 2003, when his early release licence was revoked by Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Paul Murphy, on grounds of engaging in unlawful activity.

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On February 1, 2003, UDA divisional leader John Gregg was shot dead along with another UDA member, on returning from a Rangers match in Glasgow. The killing was widely blamed on Adair's C Company - Gregg was one of those who had organised the expulsion of Adair from the UDA. On February 6, about 20 Adair supporters including White fled their homes for Scotland, widely seen as a response to severe intimidation: the graffiti "Johnny Adair and John White, Dead men walking" was seen in Belfast.

Related Topics:
February 1 - 2003 - John Gregg - Rangers - Glasgow - February 6 - Scotland

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He was released from prison again on January 10th 2005. He immediately left Northern Ireland and joined his family in Bolton, Lancashire. The police in Bolton have questioned his wife about her involvement in the drugs trade, and his son has been jailed for selling crack cocaine and heroin. Adair himself was recently arrested and fined for assault and threatening behaviour. After being released, he was almost immediately arrested again for allegedly assaulting his wife. http://www.thisisbolton.co.uk/lancashire/bolton/news/NEWS0.html

Related Topics:
January 10th - 2005 - Bolton - Lancashire - Police - Crack cocaine - Heroin

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One of Adair's trademarks when he was making a name for himself in the UDA was to drive around nationalist areas wearing a Celtic jersey to allay suspicion. (Celtic F.C. have a strong association with Irish nationalists.) He got away with this before his face was known to his republican enemies. However, he soon began to court publicity, and many of his former colleagues maintain that this was his downfall. He remarked to a Catholic journalist that she was the first "live" Catholic to ride in his car. He once authorised a severe beating of his teenage son, Johnathan, who had disrespected a powerful colleague of Adair's.

Related Topics:
Nationalist - Celtic - Republican - Catholic

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In his youth Adair was a National Front supporting skinhead football hooligan, and used to play in an "Oi!" band.

Related Topics:
National Front - Skinhead - Football hooligan - Oi!

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