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06/02/2003
Funeral held for murdered UDA chief
The funeral of murdered UDA chief John Gregg has taken place in north Belfast today.
Gregg, 45, was killed last Saturday night when returning from a football match in Scotland. The UDA's south-east Antrim commander was killed along with UDA member Robert Carson when the taxi they were travelling in was intercepted by loyalist gunmen in Nelson Street, Belfast, shortly after disembarking from the ferry.
Gregg died instantly and Carson passed away in hospital a short time later. The taxi driver remains in hospital in a serious condition. Gregg's 18-year-old son and another passenger escaped without injury.
The double murder was the bloodiest episode in the loyalist feud which has now claimed a total of four lives. The Red Hand Defenders – a cover name for Johnny Adair's Shankill Road C Company – claimed the murder.
It is expected that the funeral, at his Rathcoole home, will be attended by thousands of people and members of the mainstream UDA.
Gregg gained prominence after his attempted assassination of Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams in 1984. He was sentenced to 18 years for the failed murder bid, in which he also shot himself, and later said that his only regret was not killing Adams.
Gregg's home Rathcoole had been targeted by pipe bombers since the internal feud in the UDA began after C Company commander Johnny Adair was expelled from the organisation last September. Gregg was a member of the UDA ruling council which ostracised Adair.
It was Gregg's unit that was responsible for some of the most brutal sectarian murders in recent years. Eighteen-year-old Catholic father of one, Daniel McColgan, was murdered by the group as he went to work in Rathcoole last January. Protestant schoolboy Gavin Brett was then gunned down in north Belfast as he stood talking with Catholic friends last July.
Gregg leaves behind a wife and four children.
(GMcG)
Gregg, 45, was killed last Saturday night when returning from a football match in Scotland. The UDA's south-east Antrim commander was killed along with UDA member Robert Carson when the taxi they were travelling in was intercepted by loyalist gunmen in Nelson Street, Belfast, shortly after disembarking from the ferry.
Gregg died instantly and Carson passed away in hospital a short time later. The taxi driver remains in hospital in a serious condition. Gregg's 18-year-old son and another passenger escaped without injury.
The double murder was the bloodiest episode in the loyalist feud which has now claimed a total of four lives. The Red Hand Defenders – a cover name for Johnny Adair's Shankill Road C Company – claimed the murder.
It is expected that the funeral, at his Rathcoole home, will be attended by thousands of people and members of the mainstream UDA.
Gregg gained prominence after his attempted assassination of Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams in 1984. He was sentenced to 18 years for the failed murder bid, in which he also shot himself, and later said that his only regret was not killing Adams.
Gregg's home Rathcoole had been targeted by pipe bombers since the internal feud in the UDA began after C Company commander Johnny Adair was expelled from the organisation last September. Gregg was a member of the UDA ruling council which ostracised Adair.
It was Gregg's unit that was responsible for some of the most brutal sectarian murders in recent years. Eighteen-year-old Catholic father of one, Daniel McColgan, was murdered by the group as he went to work in Rathcoole last January. Protestant schoolboy Gavin Brett was then gunned down in north Belfast as he stood talking with Catholic friends last July.
Gregg leaves behind a wife and four children.
(GMcG)
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