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| caption = Adair in 2019
| birth_name = John Adair
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1963|10|27}}
| birth_place = [[Belfast]], Northern Ireland
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality =
| spouse = {{marriage|Gina Crossan
}}
'''John Adair''' (born 27 October 1963),{{citation needed|date=May 2019}} better known as '''Johnny Adair''' or '''Mad Dog Adair''', is
==Early life==
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Upon joining the UDA in 1984, Adair and his friends were assigned to C8, an active unit that formed part of the West Belfast Brigade's C Company, which covered the lower Shankill. The young members' early duties mostly consisted of rioting, along with occasional gun attacks on heavily armoured police vehicles{{citation needed|date=July 2015}} or arson attacks on local businesses felt to be employing "too many" Catholics.<ref>Lister & Jordan, pp. 51–52</ref> The unit was eager to become even more active and from an early stage plotted to kill a nationalist solicitor, [[Pat Finucane (solicitor)|Pat Finucane]], although the plan was initially vetoed by the brigade leadership.<ref>Lister & Jordan, p. 78</ref>
By the early 1990s, a new leadership had emerged on the Shankill Road following the killing of powerful South Belfast Brigadier and UDA Deputy Commander John McMichael in 1987 by a booby-trap car bomb planted by the [[Provisional IRA]]; less than three months later, Supreme Commander [[Andy Tyrie]] resigned after an attempt was made on his life. He was not replaced; instead the organisation was run by its Inner Council. With the West Belfast UDA brigadier and spokesman [[Tommy Lyttle]] in prison and gradually eased out of the leadership, Adair, as the most ambitious of the "Young Turks", established himself as head of the UDA's "C Company", 2nd Battalion based on the Shankill.<ref>McDonald & Cusack, p.161</ref> Adair formed a so-called "Dream Team" of active gunmen, with many of his friends from his former skinhead gang including Sam "Skelly" McCrory, [[Mo Courtney]], "Fat" Jackie Thompson, and Donald Hodgen recruited into the unit.<ref>Lister & Jordan, p. 88</ref> In the early 1990s,[[Gary Smyth (loyalist)| Gary ‘Smickers’ Smith]], who also ran a pet shop on the Shankill Road, was eventually promoted to second in command of C Company and became deputy to Adair.<ref>McDonald & Cusack, p. 179</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=24 November 2024|url=https://www.sundayworld.com/news/irish-news/uff-hitman-and-convicted-paedo-gary-smickers-smith-dies-in-exile/a1199861033.html|title=UFF hitman and convicted paedo Gary ‘Smickers’ Smith dies in exile|newspaper=Sunday World| language=en|access-date=26 November 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=8 August 2023|url=https://www.sundayworld.com/crime/irish-crime/former-uda-terror-chief-avoids-jail-after-serious-12-year-old-boy-sex-conviction/a1440974717.html|title=Former UDA terror chief avoids jail after serious ‘12-year-old boy’ sex conviction|newspaper=Sunday World| language=en|access-date=26 November 2024 }}</ref>
===Brigadier===
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==Loyalist feuds==
{{Main|Loyalist feud}}
===2000===
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Adair also sought to work closely with Belfast-based dissidents such as [[Frankie Curry]] and [[Jackie Mahood]], provoking further anger from the UVF.<ref>Lister & Jordan, p. 307</ref> Another [[loyalist feud]] erupted, and ended with several men dead and scores evicted from their homes. The [[Rathcoole (Belfast)|Rathcoole]] home of long-standing UDA member [[Sammy Duddy]] was raked by gunfire; although Duddy was not injured in the shooting attack, his pet [[chihuahua (dog)|chihuahua]] Bambi was fatally wounded by shots fired through the front door by masked gunmen from Adair's C Company. Adair later admitted in an interview he gave for journalist [[Suzanne Breen]] that Duddy never got over the loss of Bambi.<ref name="breen">Suzanne Breen. "At home with Johnny Adair". ''Sunday Tribune'', 1 April 2007.</ref>
On 13 September 2002, [[Jim Gray (UDA member)|Jim Gray]] – the head of the UDA in East Belfast and an archrival of Adair –
Adair had been spreading rumours that Gray and [[John Gregg (UDA)|John Gregg]], head of the [[UDA South East Antrim Brigade]], were both to be stood down as part of his attempts to take full control of the UDA.<ref>McDonald & Cusack, p. 368</ref> As part of this campaign Adair had visited Warnock's family and told them that Gray had been involved in their relative's death, even though he was aware that it had actually been carried out by a hired [[Red Hand Commando]] (RHC) gunman after Warnock refused to pay a drug debt to a North Down businessman. As a result, Gray was shot by a lone gunman after he left the Warnock home, where he had been paying his respects to the deceased.<ref>McDonald & Cusack, pp. 371–72</ref>
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==Exile from Northern Ireland and personal life==
Following the ousting of C Company from the Shankill Road, Adair's family and supporters went to [[Bolton]] where they garnered the nickname 'Bolton Wanderers' after the [[Bolton Wanderers F.C.|football club of the same name]].<ref>Henry McDonald, [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jul/13/northernireland Why the streets of Bolton echo to the sounds of a loyalist vendetta] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221112423/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jul/13/northernireland |date=21 December 2016 }}, ''[[The Observer]]'', 13 July 2003.</ref> Following the killing of LVF leader Billy Wright in 1997 Adair became the new contact man for a group of Bolton-based members of the [[neo-Nazi]] organisation [[Combat 18]] (C18) who up to that point had been close to the LVF{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}. Adair built up a close relationship with these far right activists, even wearing an [[England national football team|England]] shirt during [[UEFA Euro 2000]] that one of the members had given him{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}. Furthermore, when the feud with the UVF was launched in 2000 through C Company members attacking the UVF's Rex Bar stronghold a few C18 members fought alongside the UDA men. As a result, it was to the homes of these far rightists, in particular a Bolton-based tattoo artist and C18 member, that Adair's supporters fled
Adair was released from prison on 10 January 2005 and immediately headed to Bolton after being taken by helicopter to nearby [[Manchester]].<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4162761.stm "What next for Johnny Adair?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051125203617/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4162761.stm |date=25 November 2005 }}, bbc.co.uk; accessed 16 December 2016.</ref> The police in Bolton questioned his wife, Gina about her involvement in the drugs trade, and his son, Jonathan Jr (nicknamed both 'Mad Pup' and 'Daft Dog'<ref>Jonathan McCormick, [http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/mccormick/album51.htm A Directory of Murals – Album 51] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806134028/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/mccormick/album51.htm |date=6 August 2011 }}, ulst.ac.uk; accessed 16 December 2016.</ref>) has been charged with selling crack cocaine and heroin.<ref>[http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/ulster/article83072.ece "Terror follows Loyalist diehards to Bolton outpost"], ''The Independent'', 18 December 2003.{{dead link|date=December 2016}}</ref> Adair himself was arrested and fined for assault and threatening behaviour in September 2005. He had married Gina Crossan, his partner for many years, at the Maze prison on 21 February 1997. Together they had three children.<ref name="breen"/>
Several claims have been made about Adair's sexuality by his former girlfriend, Jackie "Legs" Robinson, and UDA hitman [[Michael Stone (loyalist)|Michael Stone]]. Stone claimed in his autobiography that Adair had sex with other male inmates while in prison.<ref>Michael Stone, ''None Shall Divide Us'', Blake Publishing; New edition (31 May 2004)<!-- ISBN, pages needed --></ref> Jackie Robinson, who beginning in 1991 sustained a nine-year off-and-on relationship with Adair, backed up this claim in an interview with ''The Mirror'', in which she alleged that Adair has been having sex with long-term friend and fellow loyalist Skelly McCrory since they were teenagers.<ref name="mirror">[https://www.mirror.co.uk/news-old/northernireland/2006/10/23/mad-dog-s-gay-romps-115875-17976952 "Mad Dog's Gay Romps"], mirror.co.uk, 23 October 2006; retrieved 10 August 2011.</ref>
Robinson told ''The Mirror'' journalist that she and Adair had sexual encounters during her visits to him in prison and that he received visits from prostitutes as well.<ref name="mirror"/> In her book, ''In Love With a Mad Dog'', Robinson stated that after a UDA killing had been carried out, he would become highly aroused and afterwards be "particularly wild in bed".<ref name="robinson30">Caldwell, June; Robinson, Jackie (2006). ''In Love With a Mad Dog''. UK: Gill & Macmillan Ltd. p. 30<!--ISSN/ISBN needed--></ref> It was also alleged that the mere discussion of the details of operations he had helped plan gave him a "sexually charged excitement", even when the killings had been done by others.<ref>Wood, p. 168</ref>
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On 10 September 2016, Johnny and Gina Adair's son, Jonathan Jr, was found dead in [[Troon]], aged 32.<ref>[http://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/belfast-news/jonathan-mad-pup-adair-found-11872619 "Jonathan 'Mad Pup' Adair found dead in Scotland"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108135736/http://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/belfast-news/jonathan-mad-pup-adair-found-11872619 |date=8 November 2016 }}, BelfastLive.co.uk; accessed 7 November 2016.</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-37334319 |title=Son of former loyalist paramilitary Johnny Adair found dead |publisher=BBC News |date=2016-09-11 |access-date=2016-12-16 |archive-date=7 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180907184747/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-37334319 |url-status=live }}</ref> Adair Jr died from an accidental overdose while celebrating the day after his release from prison for motoring offences. Adair Jr had been in and out of prison since the family fled Northern Ireland. He served a five-year sentence for dealing heroin and crack cocaine. The year before Jonathan had been cleared of a gun raid at a party and in 2012 was the target of a failed bomb plot. He was also facing trial later that year on drugs charges.
In December 2023, while recording a [[podcast]] with [[far-right]] activist [[Tommy Robinson]], Adair surprisingly expresed a grudging respect for the [[1981 Irish hunger strike|IRA hunger strikers]], describing the manner of their deaths as "dedication at the highest level" for a political cause and admitting that he would not have volunteered to do the same if asked.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/former-uda-boss-johnny-adair-brands-ira-best-guerrilla-army-ever-JSUGDWCQMBFIZHR7OVTTTGKQFQ/|title=Former UDA boss Johnny Adair brands IRA best ‘guerrilla army’ ever|publisher=Irish News |date=2023-12-31 |access-date=2024-11-26 }}</ref>
==Bibliography==
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[[Category:Ulster Defence Association members]]
[[Category:UDA C Company members]]
[[Category:Ulster loyalists imprisoned on terrorism charges
[[Category:Ulster Scots people]]
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