Loyalist gun was used to kill ‘Shankill Butcher’ Lenny Murphy, claims ex UFF hitman https://www.sundayworld.com/crime/loyalist-gun-was-used-to-kill-shankill-butcher-lenny-murphy-claims-ex-uff-hitman/60988974.html
FEARS are growing of another loyalist feud erupting in a Co Antrim town. Tensions are running high after the recent erection of LVF flags in Ballymena.
The flags have been put up on lampposts in the Doury Road estate, an area regarded locally as a UDA stronghold. The LVF flags were put up in the Camberwell Way part of the estate. The move is being blamed on an LVF faction who recently moved from Co Antrim. “They are blow ins,” revealed our source. “Whether they moved of their own free will or where put out no one knows. “But there is no way the UDA will put up with that.
“Doury Road has always been an area with big support for the UDA.” There are fears that the actions will antagonise UDA members into action. “It is only a small group but I’ve been told more are expected to arrive from Antrim,” added our source. “Hopefully nothing kicks off but people with authority in the organisation are monitoring the situation closely.”
There has been no love lost between the rival paramilitary organisations over the years. The LVF built up a strong affiliation with Johnny Adair’s Shankill Road UFF unit. And it was the unveiling of an LVF flag outside a bar during a show of strength which sparked the vicious feud which ultimately led to Adair’s exile. Now there are fears that Ballymena could be about to become the centre of another violent loyalist dispute.
With many thanks to the: Sunday World and Richard Sullivan for the original story.
TWISTED Grey steel killer Stephen Irwin is back walking the streets of Ulster, we can reveal. The 40-year-old UFF murderer walked out of Maghaberry Prison on Wednesday, in a shock decision which is certain to cause distress for the families of his eight victims.
Irwin was responsible for one of the darkest days of the Troubles when he walked into the Rising Sun Bar on Hallowe’en night in 1993 armed to the teeth. Wearing a boiler suit and a balaclaver he fired around 44 shots, killing eight innocent people, and even stopped at one stage to replace his magazine clip so he could cntinue his bloody rampage. Last night the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) confirmed Irwin had been released. The Sunday World has learned that Irwin – regarded as a hero within some loyalist circles – was released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement for a SECOND time. Irwin – who revelled in the nick-name given to him ‘Stevie Greysteel’ – was released after convincing a panel of Sentence Review Commissioners (SRC) that he was fit to be set free.
The move has shocked senior prison officers who say Irwin is “extremely violent”. Irwin had already been given an undeserved second chance when he was originally released under the terms of the 1998 peace agreement. But the blood-thirsty thug was returned to jail to serve out the remainder of his eight life sentences when he was involved in a vicious knife attack during the Irish Cup Final in 2005. He was given another four years on top for slashing the throat of another football van in a frenzied attack in Windsor Park. But he was told at the time of that court case that even after the four years had been served he would have to convince the SRC that it was safe for him to be set free. It means instead of serving the other eight life sentences Irwin is currently living in the Shankill area of Belfast.
After he was released from prison the first time he refused to return to his home in Co Derry and instead moved into the Shankill because he had fallen in with Johnny Adair and his ‘C’ Company crew inside. There had been speculation within Maghaberry Prison that Irwin had been released on the orders of the Secretary of State, Teresa Villiers. However a spokesperson for the NIO said Ms Villiers had no involvement in Irwin’s release. The spokesperson said: “Mr Irwin applied to the Sentence Review Commissioners (SRC) for early release under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. “The SRC is an independent body and it is for them, not the Secretary of State, to determine prisoners ‘ suitability for release.”The Sentence Review Commissioners determined that Mr Irwin’s application for early release should be granted.” Last night prison sources said officerd in Maghaberry said they were shocked Irwin had been deemed fit for release. “He had a very bad reputation inside the jail,” said the source. “In fact the prison officers used to call him Stevie ‘what the f**k are you looking at ‘ Irwin because that’s usually how he spoke to people. “He was a real nutter, an nasty little piece of work when he was in here and was responsible for a number of assaults. “Nobody could believe it when they heard he was being let out. “And nobody will be remotely suprised when he walks back through the gates at Maghaerry!” The UFF targeted The Rising Sun Bar in Graysteel because it was a Catholic area, however two of the eight people murdered were Protestant. Irwin subsequently bragged to his fellow inmates about how he prepared for his deathly bussiness when he opened fire on drinkers in the pub. The incident became known as the ‘Trick or Treat’ murders because Irwin messed up his speech.
He was supposed to read out a prepared UFF speech but got nervous and shouted ‘Trick or Treat’ instead. A woman in the bar, who thought it was a Hallowe’en prank said, “that’s not funny” and Irwin shot her first. It followed an IRA bomb attack on the Shankill Road in West Belfast just days earlier in which 10 people, including one of the bombers, were killed. One of his accomplices, Torrens Knight, was handed 12 life sentences for his part in the massacre and for his role in the separate murders of four workmen. He too was returned to jail in 2009 for attacking two woman who rowed with him and his wife in a bar. He also applied to the SRC and was released a year later. In 2006 the Sunday World published photos of Stephen Irwin inside the Old Maze prison partying with other loyalists and taking drugs. At the time it had been claimed he had penned a sick poem called ‘The Reaper’ which glorified the Greysteel massacre. His mother had contacted the Sunday World to deny her son had had anything to do with the poem. But we recieved photos of him sitting in his cell with the gruesome poem painted on his cell wall aloneside another of a gravestone with the words Trick or Treat – Rest in Pieces on it. Former inmates told us he bragged about his heinous crimes. “He was very proud of what he did at Graysteel and he showed no remorse at all,” said a former inmate. “He told everyone how he practised for a whole week to change the magazine on his AK-47 so he could re-load and kill as many people as possible,” said the former inmate. “He said he needed to be able to do it in five seconds just in case anyone tried to attack him when the first clip ran out. He said he practised it over 200 times.”
With many thanks to : Steven Moore, Sunday World.
FORMER terror chief Johnny “Mad Dog” Adair has been arrested over an alleged attack on a former UDA pal.
Adair, 49, is accused of lashing out at fellow Loyalist Ian Truesdale after the pair bumped into each other last Sunday. Truesdale, 52, was allegedly knocked to the ground after he was punched in the head. The incident is said to have been witnessed by two young children. The pair, both from Belfast, have known each other for three decades. They served with the UDA’s C Company. Truesdale was in Troon, where Adair lived until recently moving to Irvine, when he was allegedly attacked as he came out of a supermarket. Adair denies any wrongdoing. In 2003, Truesdale was accused of murdering Jonathan Stewart, 22, who was shot at a house party in North Belfast on December 27, 2002 but the charges were later dropped. Adair was bailed to appear at a later date.
With many thanks to : Eavan Murray, Sunday World.
POLICE are trailing a bonfire rapist after a teenage girl was sexually assaulted during an 11th Night party on the Shankill Road.
The Sunday World understands that a 14-year-old girl was subjected to the alleged attack close to the site of a bonfire party organised by UFF killer and drug dealer Mo Courtney. The incident took place in the early hours of the Twelfth and was reported to the PSNI around 6am. A 16-year-old youth was arrested and subsequently released without charge. A police spokesman said inquirieswitness.going. Witnessess have also told us that in a separate incident Courtney and fellow UDA thug Sam Hinton stood and watched as Courtney’s sidekick Dee Coleman battered another girl in a row over drink. A crazed Colman is said to have snapped when it emerged the girl had not bought her drink from him. “He lost it, she ended up on the ground and he was just kicking her and stamping on her head,” said our wittness. “Courtney and Hinton just stood and watched.” A number of women intervened to rescue the distraught victim who was taken to a nearby house.
But it is the alleged rape that has left the lower Shankill community stunned. The exact circumstances of the attack remain unclear but it is thought the young girl may have been given a spiked drink, and only relised she may have been the victim of a sex attack when she came around in the early hours of the 12th morning. The teenager arrested and released is known to have family connections to the UDA. The Sunday World is aware of his name but for legal reasons he cannot be identified. The 11th night horror is the lateest step in the rapid decline of the Lower Shankill estate since the return of killer Courtney. He ordered the construction of a huge bonfire, set up beer tents openly selling alcohol to underage drinkers and the Sunday World also understands his drug dealers were selling the green ‘Rolex’ pills at the centre of a recent spate of deaths, believed to have been caused by the dangerous E-type tablet. “Coleman and Hinton were going round confiscating drink from anyone they thought was underage and then making them buy it back from their own beer tent,” said our source. “You couldn’t make it up. The party was out of control, there were kids off their heads, lying everywhere.” Residents are now saying the estate is in a worse state than when controlled by the notorious UFF boss Johnny Adair. Courtney is a hate figure, and is rarely seen in the area, but his trusted lieutenant Coleman is terrorising the area by stepping up the drugs trade. The blaze, onenof the biggest in Belfast, was just 75 yards from dozens of houses. At almost 80ft high it dwarfed nearby buildings. Locals blame Courtney for the massive bonfire and say he’s keen for it to be a big event so he can make money from selling drugs to the people attending it.
Courtney asassumed control of UFF C company in the area earlier this year following his release from prison last year. He was jailed in 2007 in connection with the murder of Adair’s pal Alan ‘Bucky’ McCullough. Mo was given control of the area after his predecessor, Ebby ‘Bonus Ball’ Irvine was stood down amid claims of missing money, with Dee Coleman he has set about boosting the local drugs trade. Last night police confirmed they were investigating an incident involving a 14-year-old girl.
With many thanks to : Richard Sullivan, Sunday World.
seachranaidhe1 
You must be logged in to post a comment.