Ross Kemp in Belfast

Loyalist protests

ROSS Kemp believes people in Northern Ireland will continue to hold up the peace process until they let go of the past.

The actor turned documentary maker travelled to Ulster during the marching season last summer for his new series Extreme World. 

The TV hardman has dodged bullets and confronted gangs around the world as part of his acclaimed documentary series. 

While people have said to him the situation in the north is as bad as some of the places he visited, he said he found it intense when rioting broke out.

“People say it’s not extreme but at certain times on the Twelfth it was pretty extreme standing there with the PSNI.”

He said the show offers an unbiased look at what the situation is in the North 15 years after the Good Friday Agreement. 

“There’s more peace walls now than there were before. We found out there are still elements are not happy with the Agreement and feel betrayed by political parties but they are by far in the minority. The majority are happy the Agreement was signed and I think the country has changed for the better.”

However, he said he had to cut out a lot of interviews with people who were only looking back.

“There was a guy who spent time in prison with Bobby Sands but we decided not to use the interview because it spent too much time in the past and what we want to look at is what the future holds.”

They also visited the Bloody Sunday museum and spoke to people who gave vivid descriptions of what happened but this was also cut from the final edit. 

“You have to start eventually letting go. It’s not for me to say to somebody who’s lost their children or wife or suffered because of what happened in the past. But I guess that’s the only way things move on.”

He also interviewed two politicians who had convictions for paramilitary operations but decided not to use them. 

“I cut them in favour of two taxi drivers who do the tour to the areas like Bombay Street, the Falls and Shankill. 

“They’re from two sides of the community and openly admit they wouldn’t be able to drink together but they’re quite happy to work alongside each other.” 

Ross also interviewed Derry dissident Gary Donnelly who was a close pal of murdered IRA gang boss Alan Ryan. 

Ross and his crew had arrived in Ardoyne four days before the Parades Commission announced that they were going to restrict the marches. “By that stage we were already in with both sides of the community. 

“The minute it was announced they were out throwing stones at each other. We got a real good chance to have the points of views from both communities at that point and the views of the PSNI who were stuck between the two.”

Ross Kemp

He said it was clear that elements of both communities felt they have been wronged.  

“People in the Bogside told us they were persecuted by the police. We found no evidence of it but there were enough people saying it. 

“There are people from the Shankill saying it’s their democratic right to march. It is entirely up to the viewer to decide whether it’s right or wrong. They say they are exercising their culture. We don’t pass comment on any of it.”

He said while people in Ireland may have a better knowledge of what the situation is in the north many in England have no idea. 

“There is a whole generation of  people who grew up in places like Milton Keynes who are just unaware of it. Part of the film is to bring it to a wide audience.”

The conclusion Ross comes to is that much good has been done since the Good Friday Agreement but it will take time before people can move on from the past. 

“A lot of people died and a lot of people are still suffering. Time is a healer but it takes a long time.”

Ross said they could easily have done five episodes alone on the North but ultimately had to try and get as much as possible into the one episode. 

He also travelled to Papua New Guinea where he was held up at gunpoint but managed to end up interviewing his captors. 

“We were doing an interview when four guys come out who are blacked up and have military uniforms. 

“They had two shotguns and two rifles and said get on your hands and knees. Two of the guys who we were interviewing did. 

“It’s a stick up. I end up holding my crown jewels as I try to deflect the gun away.  I’m not trying to be macho but I was pushing the gun away asking, ‘are you really going to kill me?’

Ross described the feeling of being held at gunpoint as “like being burgled”. 

“You go from the shock of it to the personal loss. You’re heart actually sinks.” 

One time he was filming a documentary on pirates and thought he was being kidnapped when the boat he was in went a different way to the boat carrying his crew. 

“A guy was with me and all the colour had drained from his face. I asked him if we were being taken and he said ‘yes I’m afraid we are’.”

He said people mistakenly believe he has armed protection when he visits these places. 

“The only time I had any kind of that protection was travelling out of a military area in Kabul (the Afghanistan capital) to get to the Taliban to interview them. You can’t travel for insurance purpose unless you have an armed guard with you.”

He also travelled to the favelas in Rio ahead of this year’s World Cup in Brazil and said they were being destroyed by crack cocaine. He also looks at the sex trade in India, poverty in the U.S. and the fragile peace in the Lebanon. 

The new series of Extreme World is on Sky 1 on Tuesdays at 9pm.

Margaret recovers in hospital after part of her skull was removed because of swelling on her brain

Margaret was home from hospital three weeks after coming out of her coma

Margaret McGuinness has been carrying her skull in her stomach for the last year.

The Belfast woman suffered severe head injuries in a fall last February, but because of an alleged hospital cock-up she is still waiting for vital reconstructive surgery.

Because of swelling on the brain part of Margaret’s skull was removed and put into her stomach to keep the skin alive.

But in a true-life horror story the piece of skull that should have been re-attached eight months ago is lying, now useless, in her abdomen.

And she is now facing the further trauma of having a titanium plate inserted into her head.

The mum of three claims she has been failed by staff at the Royal Victoria Hospital, the hospital that initially saved her life.

In an exclusive interview last night Margaret lifted the lid on the impact the medical mistake has had upon her life and revealed the anger she feels about all the precious months of recovery wasted.

“I just want my life back, that’s all I ask. I have been patient and I have tried to understand that mistakes do happen but they have just thrown me to the side and forgotten about me,” Margaret McGuinness told the Sunday World.

“When I was released from hospital I was told that the surgery would take place within eight weeks. That was in March 2013. I have been left in this kind of limbo ever since and I really can’t take any more,” she said.

Margaret suffered frontal and rear fractures to her head after a fall in her mother’s house last February. 

She also suffered a cardiac arrest and spent three weeks in a coma due to the seriousness of her head injuries.

“I only fell from the third stair but apparently I hit the back of my head off the cabinet in the hallway and then fell onto the front of my head. 

“I don’t remember a thing but my niece who was there said a rattle came from me, the death rattle,” said Margaret.

“My poor mother was there and heard it and said ‘she is dying, she is going to die’. She said it was the same noise she heard coming from my father who was killed by a plastic bullet as he stood beside her,” she revealed.

Paramedics rushed the 46-year-old to hospital yet she suffered a cardiac arrest en route.

She said: “I know how lucky I am to be here but I don’t deserve to be treated like this. My whole life has been put on hold because of this delay. 

“I can’t go back to work, I can’t go on holiday. I can’t even bend my head up or down without feeling as if my brain is about to fall out and that is the worst feeling in the world.

“The fact is that if I banged my head in the slightest it could kill me. There is no protection there, none at all, and I have to live with the fear that the smallest of accidents could be it. 

“Even the local children stop playing football if I am taken up the street to see my mother. They know if the ball hit me it could kill me.

“It’s so hard to live like this and sometimes I just break down and cry. 

“I feel so useless because I used to run this house, I used to look after my mum, work full time and walk three times a week and now look at me,” she revealed.

Margaret McGuinness shows where her skull was implanted into her stomach. Pics by Conor McCaughley

Margaret underwent emergency surgery due to the swelling on her brain. She was in a coma for three weeks while her family sat by her bedside her in intensive care.

She said: “They were told at times to fear the worst. 

“That’s the thing with brain injuries, you just never know how things are going to turn out. Even when things were looking better you don’t know how the person will respond, what damage will be caused and how they will be once the person does come round, that’s if they ever do.

“They had to remove part of my skull because of the swelling and bleeding on the brain. That’s when they inserted the part of the skull they removed into my stomach. 

“They did that to keep the skin alive until they could re-attach it when the swelling and bleeding had subsided but like I said they forgot about me and that never happened. 

“Because so much time has passed the skull in my stomach can’t be used and I have to be fitted for a metal plate.

“I am furious when I think about what has happened to me and the fact that it is me chasing the hospital and not them trying to put their mistake right. 

“They only started to react to me when my GP complained on my behalf,” she explained.

The former barwoman and full time carer to her mum is no further on from the moment she exited hospital after a miracle six week fight for life.

“I was in a coma for three weeks and I went home three weeks after that and I put that down to determination. 

“I remember the first day I got lifted in a hoist and put into a chair where I had to be strapped in and I remember thinking  this will not be me.

“I couldn’t speak but I was so angry that I was in that position and I vowed then that I would not let this happen to me and that I would fight to get my life back. 

“I did that but now I am back to square one, having the scans I already had for a procedure I should have had last year.

“All I am asking is for the hospital to give me a time for my operation so I can continue of fighting to get my life back. “

A spokesperson for the the Belfast Trust said: “Since August 2013 two of our consultant neurosurgeons have left. We are sorry the impact of this has resulted in a longer waiting time for some  patients.  Obviously this a situation which we find difficult, but we maintain regular contact with patients in order to ensure they are fully aware of their treatment options and plans.

“We would wish to assure our patients that we are continuing to make every effort to address this as soon as possible.”

Hugh Morgan is being sued by Armagh county board

Armagh GAA team was sponsored by Morgan Fuels

Fuel magnate Hugh Morgan is facing legal action over £90,000 unpaid GAA sponsorship fees.

And he could also be entwined in a probe into more than £9,000 in missing ticket money.

The millionaire businessman, a long time sponsor of Gaelic football in Co Armagh,  is the central figure in a financial mess is set to rock Gaelic football.

The Sunday World has information that an independent audit has uncovered a list of apparent financial irregularites  that will shake the sport to its foundations, and which drove the Armagh County Board to the brink of bankruptcy.

Last night a spokesman for the Armagh County Board confirmed to the Sunday World: “papers have been served on our former sponsor and I can confirm that an independent (financial)  audit has been carried out.”

Sources say it is impossible to put a figure on the scandal but that it runs to “many thousands of pounds.”

The audit report is firmly under lock and key at the association’s headquarters at Croke Park and the county has been given strict instructions not to discuss its findings with anyone.

 But details are set to emerge as the county presses ahead with legal action against its former main sponsor  Hugh Morgan who’s company name Morgan Fuels has been synonymous with the 2002 All Ireland champions.

Newry man Morgan has a long association with GAA, in particular through his sponsorship of Armagh, but it is a relationship that turned sour when it was alleged that he had failed to meet a series of financial obligations.

“When Morgan came on board as a sponsor, he was phenomenal, his level of enthusiasm was fantastic as he pumped a fortune into Armagh GAA,” said our source.

Morgan, who has a conviction from 1998 for fuel smuggling and tax evasion, pulled the plug on his sponsorship deal 18 months  ago after the county approached him for £90,000 he is alleged to owe in unpaid sponsorship payments.

The county’s financial shortcomings only came to light as part of a wider review of the way the game was being run in Armagh.  Well placed sources have told us that expenditure was out of control. 

The source claims there was an absence of some records of invoices or receipts and it was even discovered there were almost 20 direct debits going out of the county account which nobody knew anything about.

It emerged mobile phone accounts had been opened without authorisation and were being funded by the county and there were direct debits to pay for certain unauthorised domestic bills!

Volunteer workers were stunned when they were refused annual expenses running to thousands which they claimed they received every year. Current Board officials knew nothing  about this situation it and there was no formal record of the payments.

The most damning scandal emerged when the County Board approached  oil company Topaz seeking payment for match tickets that had been provided for their corporate clients.

“The arrangement was set up through Morgan. Topaz would come to us looking for tickets for certain games which we agreed to sell them, it was a win win situation for the county as Topaz were happy to pay more than cover price to secure tickets for clients, so it enabled us to make some extra money.”

But when finance committee members tried to track the payments down they could find no records whatsoever.

“It looked for the all world that Topaz had not  paid.”

When contacted, Topaz was adamant they had met all their financial obligations and  even sent the County Board a copy of an invoice they had received on Armagh headed paper for more than €9,500, and evidence that it had been paid.

“There is no trace of that money at the County Board,” said our source. 

“Nobody but the Board has the right to use headed notepaper,. how did  any one individual get their hands on it and where did that money go?”

The Sunday World understands Morgan is facing a demand for £90,000 in sponsorship payments and payment for tickets provided to Topaz.

When contacted yesterday on his mobile  phone Morgan confirmed who he was,  and when challenged on the allegations laid against him he said: “You will have to speak to my brother about that. He handles all that.”

We repeated the question: “You’ll have to speak to my brother , and I can’t give you his number.”

He then denied we were talking to Hugh Morgan and said that his name was Harry.

“I only work here,  I’m just here feeding the cattle,” he said. When we asked to speak to Hugh he said he wasn’t there and  that he wouldn’t be back until Monday.

Mark Haddock is on the run

Terry Fairfield was stabbed in the neck

UVF fugitive Mark Haddock has been in touch with former terror pals back in Northern Ireland

The one paramilitary kingpin has been pleading with his one time friends in the UVF to offer him sanctuary as he goes on the run after brutally stabbing his only friend.

Paranoid Haddock has gone native after stabbing lifelong friend Terry `The Mechnic' Fairfield in the neck in a drunken rage in England and is now the subject of a nationwide manhunt.

Special Branch agent Fairfield, first unmasked by the Sunday World as a security force informant has been living under an assumed identity for more than a decade after fleeing Northern Ireland,  he has been running a pub in Milton Keynes and sheltering former  Mount Vernon UVF commander Haddock.

Three years ago the Sunday World tracked Haddock to his pal's English bolt hole and confronted him about his murderous past, and how he was allowed to continue working for the security services.

Despite overwhelming evidence that Haddock was involved in up to a dozen murders while working for the police he has evaded sentence.

Farifield suffered serious stab injuries to his neck as a result of the assault which happened as the pair enjoyed a night on the town.

Haddock has since disappeared  having dumped his car and mobile phone in an attempt to stay one step ahead of the law.

Fairfield earned his Mechanic nickname because he supplied cars to the UVF for terrorist assaults - most famously he supplied the car used in the Heights Bar massacre in 1994 when six innocents were gunned down in the village of Loughinisland as they watched Ireland play Italy in a World Cup match.

Haddock, who had been making frequent return trips to Belfast to stay with his girlfriend attacked Fairfield - godfather to his child - because of paranoia that his pal was set to give evidence against him in a forthcoming supergrass trial.

Sources have told  the Sunday World the fallen terror boss has become increasingly addicted to subscription and illegal drugs and had become prone to violent mood swings.

Ian Paisley

Timothy Johnston and Naomi Robinson

The Rev. Ian Paisley officiated at the wedding of Timothy Johnston – a year after the special advisor apparently helped oust the DUP leader with his damning secret report.

The Sunday World can reveal the former DUP boss not only attended the wedding of Mr Johnston to his wife Naomi – but that he actually took part in the ceremony.

The wedding took place at Clogher Valley Free Presbyterian Church in the summer of 2009 – 12 months after Mr Paisley was forced out of the party in an apparent bitter coup.

During the second part of the BBC’s special documentary Mr Paisley made explosive allegations about how he was forced to leave the role as First Minister and DUP leader against his wishes in 2008.

He claimed Mr Johnston was behind a confidential survey which asked seven question – five of which were about his leadership.

The results of the survey questioned his ability to do the job and apparently 83 per cent of the MLAs polled thought he should quit.

And Eileen Paisley told the documentary that when her husband brought the report home: “I was furious, to put it mildly and I felt like taking it and ramming it down Timothy Johnston’s throat.”

The fact that Mr Paisley, now known as Lord Bannside, attended the wedding raises questions about his claims at how angry he was with the party about how he was treated.

Timothy Johnston, who comes originally from Tandragee, married Naomi Robinson in a joyous ceremony and the couple later celebrated their nuptials at the luxury five star Lough Erne Resort in Co. Fermanagh.

Naomi’s father Paul is an elected DUP representative who sits on Fermanagh District Council.

The couple, who live in Portadown have a son together.

Nobody from the DUP was available for comment last night.

But a source told us that Timothy Johnston was very hurt by the claims made by his former boss.

“Timothy idolised Ian Paisley and he’s annoyed that things have turned out this way,” said the source.

Following the documentary Mr Johnston strongly denied Ian Paisley’s version of events.

In a statement he said: “Dr Paisley commissioned the survey and was aware of its nature and its findings at the time.

“At no point then or since has Dr Paisley or Mrs Paisley sought to raise these concerns with me despite having had every opportunity to do so.

“After a long and distinguished career it is very regrettable that Dr Paisley, as well as Mrs Paisley, and those who now advise them, have co-operated in the making of two programmes that have significantly and irreversibly damaged his historical legacy.

“Unsurprisingly, the events of that time have not been accurately recalled and indeed the ‘research’ used by the production staff is wrong in many significant respects.”

The wedding of Timothy Johnston to Naomi Robinson took place in Clogher Valley Free Presbyterian Church

Political sources have described Mr Johnston as being “extremely powerful” within the DUP.

“Tim Johnston is the man who sits on the throne,” said one insider.

“He’s right at the top of the party and if anyone is caught out of line it’s Tim Johnston who sorts it out.”

Mr Paisley claimed in the documentary that his special adviser presented him with a survey of DUP MLAs that contained criticisms of his work as first minister, not least his “chuckling” behaviour with Martin McGuinness.

Mr Paisley then alleged a meeting soon followed, involving Mr Peter Robinson, Nigel Dodds as well as party whip Lord Morrow and Timothy Johnson.

“Nigel Dodds said to me I want you to be gone by Friday,” he said.

“I just more or less smirked and Peter said ‘no, no, no he needs to stay in for another couple of months’.”

The aftershocks continue to rumble following the two-part documentary by journalist Eamonn Mallie.

The claims were backed up by the former leader’s wife, Eileen Paisley, who was clearly very angry at the way her husband has been treated.

Eileen Paisley said her husband was “assassinated with words and deeds”, treated shamefully and was left with no option but to stand down.

She described Nigel Dodds as a “cheeky sod”.

“I detected a nasty spirit arising from some of the other MPs and the way they spoke to Ian,” Mrs Paisley said.

“I was very annoyed one day with the way some of them spoke to him and addressed him.

“Whenever they said to him about what was going on and he said to them ‘well, that's what should be done’ and they said ‘och doc’, you know? Sort of, ‘don’t be so stupid’.

“That sort of set the alarm bells ringing in my head,” she added.

The embarrassing affair has also thrown up the awkward issue of how it affects Ian Paisley junior who is the DUP MP for North Antrim.

DUP leader Peter Robinson acknowledged Ian Junior was “in a difficult position” but added that it wouldn’t affect his position in the party.

steven.moore@sundayworld.com

Burglar James Graham

Victim Bobby Moffett

UVF thug Paul Gray

Terror chief John 'Bunter' Graham

A gun used in the UVF murder of Bobby Moffett was stolen to order from a house in Ballymena.

Two men armed with shotguns were involved in the May 2010 murder.

At least one of the weapons was stolen during a house break-in carried out on the instructions of then UVF Commander in Ballymena Paul Gray.

The raid was carried out by housebreaker James Graham. The tattooed burglar was a close associate of terror boss Gray and was heavily involved in a series of money making scams in the north Antrim area. 

Working on Gray’s orders he burgled specially selected houses in the Ballymena area with the intention of stealing cash or legally held  weapons.

The Sunday World understands that the Moffett murder weapon was one such gun.

The shotgun was brought to the Shankill the day before Moffett was shot in May 2010.    

The 43-year-old was standing on the Shankill Road at lunchtime on May 28 when he was approached by two men.  He  was blasted in the face from point blank range.

The killing, which was carried out on the orders of UVF bosses John ‘Bunter’ Graham, Joe McGaw and Harry Stockman, prompted  outrage in the loyalist heartland.

Despite a campaign of intimidation from the UVF, thousands lined the Shankill Road as the dead man’s funeral got under way.

The terror group continues to target the Moffett family with a series of houses attacked and family members beaten.

According to well-placed loyalist sources James Graham was on the Shankill the day Moffett was killed,  tasked with getting rid of the weapons, but police later seized two shotguns in a house raid on the Shankill.

The house breaker is understood to be close to UVF chief John Bunter Graham and is believed to have blown the whistle on his former boss in Ballymena.

Paul Gray and his conman sidekick Darren ‘Chink’ O Neill were stood down earlier this month after an internal UVF investigation revealed how they had been busy lining their own pockets in a series of scams.

James Graham and Gray had a major fallout after the burglar discovered his boss was not passing cash on  to the UVF leadership on the Shankill.

Concerned he would be targeted he became whistleblower.

As revealed in the Sunday World last week it is thought Gray and O’Neill have stashed a £250,000 fortune in banks south of the border. The pair have been courtmartialled and ordered to repay the cash. 

Meanwhile the Moffett family are continuing their fight for justice. In November the dead man’s sister cleared the first stage in her High Court battle to secure disclosure of a full report on the shooting.

She is mounting a legal challenge to have the full details of an Independent Monitoring Commission report into the state of  the paramilitary ceasefires released.

So far only an edited version has been supplied for the purposes of holding an inquest.

Irene Owens, is seeking a judicial review which would compel the Secretary of State to release the dossier in full.

Mr Justice Treacy granted leave to seek a judicial review, and the case is listed to heard in March.

At that stage the IMC’s findings are expected to be explored in more detail.

In its report the international body described the killing as a public execution.

It concluded that Mr Moffett was murdered to stop his perceived flouting of UVF authority, and to send a message to the organisation and the community that this authority was not to be challenged.

Terror boss Stephen Matthews turned down chance to take Con Club robbed cash

The Con Club

The Medway amenity site

A botched robbery may be the reason behind a cash find at a Belfast rubbish dump.

For the Sunday World can reveal that a bungling burglar may have tossed a bag of cash after being rumbled trying to rob the Constitution Club in the east of the city.

And the creamed cash was then sucked up by a ‘street Hoover’ vehicle before being found by council workers at Medway Street dump who thought they’d hit the jackpot. 

The Sunday World last week reported on how six workers were being investigated by Belfast City Council after the bag containing several thousand pounds was found by refuse workers.

At the time, Belfast City Council told us that both they and the PSNI were investigating the matter.

This week sources in east Belfast have claimed that the money in fact came from a bungled robbery at the Constitution Club on the Newtownards Road. 

A council worker is believed to have  panicked that the cash was UVF money.

An individual managed to get his hands on a set of Con Club keys and went to the social club in the early hours of the morning around the turn of the year.

He was allegedly rumbled by a member of staff. 

“He  noticed his keys were missing so he ran back to the club to find this guy stuffing the money from the till into a plastic bag and the two of them got into a brawl which spilled out onto the street. They were beating lumps out of each other and the bag got tossed away.”

Like something out of a Carry-On crime  movie, our sources said the bag was then sucked up in the early hours of the morning by a BCC street cleaning vehicle. 

 The source added: “The driver saw a £20 note which escaped had stuck to the window of the vehicle, but that sort of thing happens now and again with these types of vehicles, so he thought nothing of it.

“It wasn’t until the boys at the dump emptied the vehicle that they discovered the wads of cash, but days later rumours spread that the cash was UVF money, even though it wasn’t. 

“One of the guys was so afraid of reprisal he went to the cops who are now investigating it.”

“He even went to [UVF East Belfast brigadier] Stephen Matthews to tell him he’d give the money back, but Matthews said it had nothing to do with him or the UVF.”

In a statement to the Sunday World, the PSNI said they are currently investigating a link between the robbery of the Constitution Club and the cash find.

A police spokesperson said: “Police are investigating a burglary which occurred at a licensed premises on the Newtownards Road on January 1 2014. It was reported that a sum of cash was taken during this incident.

“Police are also investigating a separate report, which was made on 14 January 2014, that a sum of cash had been found at a refuse site in Belfast. Enquiries are being made as to whether or not these two incidents are linked. Anyone with information in relation to either incident is asked to contact Police at Musgrave on 0845 600 8000 or alternatively information can be provided anonymously to independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”

Our source also claimed that the man responsible for the robbery was also involved in another shoplifting incident for which he received a kicking from the UVF.

They said: “A few months ago the same guy went into a butchers near a UVF bar in east Belfast and started stealing meat when the butcher had his back turned. 

“He then stupidly went into the bar across the road where a load of UVF men were drinking and tried to flog them the meat. They realised what he’d done and took him outside and gave him a kicking.”

Mark Haddock is on the run

Terry Fairfield was stabbed in the neck

UVF leader Mark Haddock has been remanded in custody in a court in England charged with stabbing a former pal.

The one paramilitary kingpin had gone the run after brutally stabbing his only friend  Terry `The Mechnic' Fairfield in the neck in a drunken rage in England last Saturday night.

However Haddock, who once led the UVF in Mount Vernon estate in north Belfast, appeared before Milton Keynes magistrates court on Wednesday charged with grievous bodily harm and was remanded in custody.

Special Branch agent Fairfield, first unmasked by the Sunday World as a security force informant has been living under an assumed identity for more than a decade after fleeing Northern Ireland. He has been running a pub in Milton Keynes and had been sheltering former  Mount Vernon UVF commander Haddock.

Three years ago the Sunday World tracked Haddock to his pal's English bolt hole and confronted him about his murderous past, and how he was allowed to continue working for the security services.

Despite overwhelming evidence that Haddock was involved in up to a dozen murders while working for the police he has evaded sentence.

Fairfield earned his Mechanic nickname because he supplied cars to the UVF for terrorist assaults - most famously he supplied the car used in the Heights Bar massacre in 1994 when six innocents were gunned down in the village of Loughinisland as they watched Ireland play Italy in a World Cup match.

Haddock, who had been making frequent return trips to Belfast to stay with his girlfriend attacked Fairfield - godfather to his child - because of paranoia that his pal was set to give evidence against him in a forthcoming supergrass trial.

Caroline Bernadette Baker is accused of false imprisonment

The two houses at Drumellen Mews, Craigavon, where the Bakers lived

A husband and wife accused in connection with a sexual slavery case can be identified, a court in Northern Ireland has ruled.

The couple are 57-year-old Keith Baker and his wife, Caroline Bernadette, 51, from Drumellen Mews, Craigavon, County Armagh.

Mr Baker faces 15 charges against two women, one of whom suffers from a severe learning disability.

The charges include rape, voyeurism, and human trafficking for sex offences.

He is also charged with sexual assault, aiding and abetting rape and false imprisonment.

It is alleged one of the women was kept in squalid conditions, and repeatedly sexually abused over a 10-year period by Mr Baker, his wife and "a number of unknown males".

It is also alleged Mr Baker filmed the woman in sexual activity with these men.

 Mrs Baker is charged with falsely and injuriously imprisoning the same, vulnerable woman between January 2004 and December 2012. 

She is also accused of a total of eight sexual offences, which involve allegedly having carried out or encouraged sexual acts in the knowledge the victim was unable to refuse due to her learning disability.

On Friday, at Craigavon Magistrates Court District, Judge Rosemary Watters said: "I am lifting reporting restrictions in the case as the court has no power to implement them in these circumstances."

This is the second successful case in Craigavon in which press representations were made to the Lord Chief Justice's Office to have reporting restrictions lifted.

In respect of this case, Mrs Baker remains remanded on continuing bail, while Mr Baker remains in custody.

Terry Fairfield shows his scar after knife attack

'Hannibal' Mark Haddock slashed his former pal

Terry Fairfield shows his scar to Jim McDowell

Terry Fairfield after getting stitches in hospital

This is the man who ex-UVF psycho terror boss Mark ‘Hannibal’ Haddock tried to hack to death.

Terry Fairfield has told us how his former pal Haddock sliced him on his neck after chillingly telling him: ‘I’m going to kill you.’

Originally from the Tynedale estate in North Belfast, the former Catholic member of the UVF set up a new life in England as a barowner and successful businessman. 

Fairfield, once dubbed ‘The Mechanic’ in UVF ranks – a car sold by his garage in Belfast was used in the infamous UVF Loughinisland pub massacre – tried to help set up a new life for Haddock across the water. 

His ‘thanks’ for that came at 7.29p.m. outside the pub in Newport Pagnell, England, where he’s landlord last Saturday night.

Then Haddock, now 46 and the one time godfather of the notorious UVF 3rd  battalion based in Mount Vernon, and who is linked to a  dozen grisly murders back home, tried to slit Terry Fairfield’s throat. 

And, as our picture shows, he almost succeeded,

Just look at the fresh five-inch long scar running from behind Fairfield’s left ear – where Haddock stuck the point of a knife in – to under his chin. 

In an exclusive interview with Sunday World in his  quiet cul-de-sac home close to Luton yesterday, Terry Fairfield told us: “I’m now ashamed that I agreed to Haddock coming over here. 

“I was approached by someone close to him, who feared he was going to be the subject of another assassination attempt back home, I tried to help save his life.

“Instead, he ended up trying to take mine….”

As he speaks, the 57-year-old ex-heavyweight boxer points to the savage scar, which needed 27 stitches on the outside, and three internally to seal blood vessels cut in the crazed Saturday night slashing. 

And he chillingly says: “An inch lower, and Haddock would have left me for dead. 

“He would have sliced the jugular – and that would have been curtains for me.”

He says he has no doubt murder was on the mind of Haddock,  jailed in 2006 for 10 years for trying to batter to death Ballyclare doorman Trevor Gowdy four years earlier. 

He recalls: “He looked straight at me and coldly stated: ‘I’m going to kill you.’

“In a split second, he plunged the red-handled knife into my neck behind my left ear.”

Terry Fairfield says he felt no pain at that point. 

But he now believes the only thing that saved  him was his boxing training back in Belfast. 

“When he lunged at my head, I hit him with a left hook. 

“My hand, left arm and shoulder are still sore,” he says, as he twists round painfully on the settee.

He adds: “I connected  with that punch. It stunned Haddock. If it hadn’t, he’d have stabbed me to death.”

As it was Fairfield stumbled, blood gushing out of the gaping wound. 

Haddock fled in the car he’d used to get to Fairfield’s pub. 

His victim now says he believes Haddock stalked him. 

Fairfield says he had not seen Haddock for up to four weeks, having told him he wanted nothing more to do with him. 

And he insists Haddock had not  been drinking with him in the pub. 

He says on that fateful Saturday evening of January 25 last, he was planning to leave the bar and go with his partner of four years for a meal. 

But then, out of the blue, Haddock phoned him. 

“He asked me to go outside. I thought he just wanted to talk on the mobile.

“As it turned out, he had been waiting in a car. 

“He came towards me, confronted me, and told me straight to my face, looking into my eyes, that he was going to kill me.”

In spite of the parrying punch, Haddock sliced open the man who had tried to give him a new lease of  life. 

His victim was left lying on his pub forecourt, blood pumping for his neck, fighting for his own life. 

“I lost four pints of blood while waiting for the medics,” he recalls. 

“I felt myself going cold. I thought: ‘Don’t let yourself slip away here.’

“I heard a lad who was trying to stop the bleeding say: ‘We’re losing him.’

“I said to myself: ‘No, you’re not’.

It took an ambulance 25 minutes to get to him, but three doctors working on him saved his life.

Paul Kerr was tied to a lamppost

Pervert Paul Kerr is unmasked as the convicted sex offender targeted and lashed to a lamppost in west Belfast this week.

Kerr was tied to a lamppost and had a banner hung round his neck claiming he was a pervert after it was alleged he was caught exposing and pleasuring himself in front of young children who were playing in the Bog Meadows in west Belfast on last Thursday evening 

Residents were then invited onto the street to let Kerr know he is not welcome in the area. 

It’s understood Sinn Fein representatives contacted police who attended the scene.

Pictures of the local shaming have been circulating on social media in the hope that the deviant child flasher will never be able to return to live among the people of West Belfast. 

The majority of comments were commending the work of the local vigilantes, with many being shocked that Kerr had escaped unscathed. 

A witness at the on street shaming commented: “He was dragged to a lamppost and tied, telling people he is a pervert. 

“Think of the trauma he has caused his victims over the years, calling them over to look at him while he’s exposing himself. He got off lightly as far as I’m concerned.”

One angry resident commented “I really don’t think a community as a whole should have confronted him like that and tied his legs up. There’s other ways of dealing with the matter instead of public embarrassment in his community and on Facebook.

“I agree that what he did was inappropriate but I think how these people dealt with it is wrong on a certain level.”

Local residents will be angered to know that just last week 41-year-old Kerr was rumoured to be living in a house in Gartree Place in Andersonstown, a community which has over 15 schools in close proximity.

Members of the local community have come forward to say they have spotted the creep sitting outside St Oliver Plunkett primary school around the time the young children finish school.

Having been placed on the sex offenders register Kerr is banned from contact with children under 17 and forbidden from going to public places where children might gather, specifically schools and play parks. 

By breaching the terms of his licence this week category two sex offender Kerr could find himself back in prison.

Within weeks of the original banning order Kerr was caught lurking near a children’s play park in Co. Down.

He is one half of an evil duo. Twin brother Steven has a string of similar sex convictions stretching back 20 years.He was most recently jailed in January 2012 for terrorising children on Belfast’s Black Mountain. He subjected a 16-year-old boy to his lewd trouser dropping behaviour on multiple occasions over a one year period. 

He exposed himself to the young male who cannot be named for legal reasons and said “Show me your bum”, when the young male replied “You’re sick”, Kerr calmly told him, “This is what I like to do.” His twin brother Steven also has a similar list of offences to his name.

At one stage a court ordered that the pair should not be allowed to spend time in each other’s company, such was the risk of them offending.

They had previously been ordered out of west Belfast by the IRA.

Last night police confirmed they were investigating the incident.

“The PSNI is responsible for law enforcement and does not tolerate any type of vigilante activity,” the statement read.

“Neighbourhood police officers are committed to working in partnership with local communities to address any issues or concerns.

“It is vital that anyone with information on any illegal activity contacts their neighbourhood police officers, their local police station or indeed a community representative who can pass the information to police so that the matter can be fully investigated by police officers and anyone who may have acted illegally can be dealt with accordingly.”

David Black was shot dead in November 2012

A man charged with murdering a prison officer in Northern Ireland is due to appear in court on Wednesday.

David Black (52) was shot dead as he drove to work along a motorway in Co Armagh in November 2012.

The father-of-two was the 31st member of the prison service to be killed in Northern Ireland, the first such murder in almost 20 years.

Detectives arrested a 33-year-old man in Lurgan in Co Armagh on Monday. He also faces charges of possessing a firearm with the intent to endanger life.

The accused will appear at Craigavon Magistrates' Court today, a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) spokeswoman said.

Mr Black, from Cookstown in Co Tyrone, was on the M1 motorway enroute to Maghaberry Prison in Co Antrim when he was shot at high speed.

The Toyota Camry car used in his killing was later found burnt out in Lurgan.

Two other men, one in Northern Ireland and one in the South, face charges linked to the purchase and movement of the Toyota Camry.

(Press Association)

Barry McCarney also abused baby Millie Martin

Child abuser Michael Stevens who abused two little cousins aged five and eight

Prisoners inside Maghaberry prison are set to riot over child killers and sex offenders sharing family visiting hours.

The maximum security facility is a powder keg after prison authorities forced  inmates to share visiting space with a string of notorious sex abusers – now prisoners are set to defy prison orders and revolt.

Visits have already been cancelled as tensions rise in the prison.

The Sunday World can reveal prison bosses are transferring convicted child killers, rapists and sex abusers to Braid House during visiting times attended by children.

The sex offenders share the same open plan room during the same designated time visiting time as small children play in the crèche within hands reach.

Furious inmates, many of whom are serving life sentences, have vowed to retaliate if prison staff refuse to end the situation, fearful for safety of their young children and grandchildren.

Worried family members have already cancelled visits fearing being caught up in a prison riot and exposing their children to the depraved perverts.

Sources claim the prison is a powder keg set to explode.

Maghaberry Prison

The visiting arrangements have been branded dangerous by furious and distraught relatives who fear their loved ones will be hurt or killed in the predicted prison bust-up.

Tensions have been rising for weeks after the merging of the prisoner visits. Until then Braid House was a quiet section of the prison used to house vulnerable and low maintenance prisoners, many who are lifers content to put their heads down and serve their sentence 

The arrival of inmates such as Barry McCarney who seriously sexually assaulted and murdered 15-month-old Millie Martin in Tyrone in 2009 has proved too much for inmates and their families to swallow. 

 “You can see them looking at the kids and it makes my stomach churn at the thought of what they could be thinking. 

“One of the men, who is in for life, told them if he caught them looking even in the same direction as his granddaughter he would beat the life out of them,” said one prison source.

“Those scumbags are put in here to keep them away from children yet in here they have access to them on a weekly basis. 

“For some of those bastards just looking at a child would be enough to keep their sick desires going, these are men who get their kicks from raping and killing kids,” the source said.

It is not only the thought of exposing their children that has stopped relatives from visiting – they are terrified of being caught in a confrontation.

A concerned mother said after a recent visit to the prison: “If something kicked off everyone would be in trouble because there would be nowhere for us to run, it’s just one big open room. 

“We can’t take the choice of putting children through that never mind the thought of those evil bastards getting some kind of kick looking at our babies and children. 

“We should never have been put in this position, they never even had the decency to inform us that it was happening, we just turned up one day as usual and they were there, it was like walking into a horror movie,” she said.

Prisoners who have officially complained have been told to accept such changes or suffer the consequences, losing visits or being moved to the main prison.

Notices have also been put up warning prisoners not to antagonise or give eye contact to prisoners such as McCarney.

There are 90 inmates in Braid House which include ‘fireball brothers’ Niall, Martin, Christopher and Stephen Smith who were convicted of the manslaughter of sex offender Thomas O’Hare and his girlfriend Lisa McClatchy.

The pair burned to death after their house was torched by the brothers in Keady in Co Armagh in November 2008.

During their trial it was revealed that O’Hare had sexually abused Stephen when he was eight years old and they acted out of concern that he would sexually abuse their children.

“There are people inside who would think nothing about doing these sex offenders and child killers serious harm. The prison staff need their heads read, what part of this did they think was a good idea?, asked the mother.

“Just because the men in Braid house could be considered as model prisoners they would never accept having to share their family visit time with sickos like that. 

“Those men wait all week to see their kids and enjoy some time with their families, now that’s ruined. 

“What the prison staff forgot is that these same men aren’t in for parking fines, this could turn nasty very quickly and that is what’s worrying us.

“If something kicks off the riot squad would be called in and you know what that means, people will get hurt,” another source told Sunday World.

Other residents of Baird House include sectarian killer Jeff Lewis who was part of the gang who attacked and killed Ballymena schoolboy Michael ‘Mickey Bo’ McAlveen. He was jailed last November.

Lifers have objected to being forced to sit in the same room as twisted kid killer McCarney and sicko child abuser Michael Stevens.

Stevens sexually abused two little cousins, just five and eight years of age, yet insists they children came on to him during his trial.

The roly poly pervert tried to convince jurors he was in a wheelchair to receive a lighter sentence until exposed by the Sunday World jumping out of a car.

The Sunday World contacted the Prison Service. A spokesperson stated: “New visiting arrangements in one specific area of the prison became effective for sound operational reasons.”

Killer Colin Boles at his front door last week

70-year-old victim Frederick McMahon

A twisted thug who kicked a pensioner to death over a cigarette has moved in beside close relatives of his victim.

Evil killer Colin Boles, seen this week at the Bangor home he shares with his girlfriend, has refused to offer words of apology to the family of his frail victim – 70-year-old Frederick McMahon.

Boles 29, was just 17 when he committed one of Ulster’s most grisly and senseless murders.

The drugged up thug launched a savage attack on defenceless pensioner Mr McMahon in July 2001 after the elderly man refused to give him a cigarette. 

Witnesses said Boles, who was high on drink and drugs at the time, returned three times to “rain blows and kicks” on his helpless victim.

He eventually told cops he had “lost his head” after his victim refused to give him a cigarette.

Now the killer has piled  further agony on the McMahon family by setting up home a few doors from his victims’ relatives.

Boles was ordered to serve a minimum of 12 years in jail for the brutal attack and that is exactly all that he served.

He  was released from Maghaberry Prison in December and the thoughtless thug has moved into a plush new housing development – where a number of relatives of his victim also live.

Relatives have also been shocked to see Boles working in a key-cutting business near Belfast.

They are furious they weren’t informed that Boles was even going to be released from jail.

And they are further upset they weren’t informed that he would be moving in beside them.

Friends of the family have told the Sunday World they are “terrified” and are now considering selling up and leaving the area.

We confronted Boles on Thursday morning at his home in Upritchard Crescent but the cowardly killer had nothing to say.

When we asked him why he had moved into a house close to Mr McMahon’s family members he replied: “No comment”.

And when we asked him if he had any words of apology to the family of Russell McMahon he said, “No, I’ve got nothing to say.”

A police reconstruction of 70-year-old Frederick McMahon's crime scene

Last night a family friend said it was a “worrying time” for some relatives who live nearby.

“This has come as a massive shock to the family who have had their lives ruined already by what Colin Boles did,” said the friend.

“They were not warned by the Probation Board that he was even being released from jail – they thought 12 years was the minimum and that he’d serve more time inside.

“They certainly weren’t told that he was moving into the same housing development as them.”

The friend said the family always thought when he was finally released that he would go to live in the Whitehill estate in Bangor, which is where he had grown up.

His victim Russell McMahon was a quiet Bangor man who was enjoying his retirement when he was attacked late at night.

Mr McMahon’s murder prompted one of the biggest investigations by Bangor detectives.

In a bid to catch the killer police took the unprecedented step of releasing an appeal for information about Mr McMahon’s murder on the screen at the local cinema.

They also staged a reconstruction of the attack with a man dressed in clothes similar to Mr McMahon’s pictured in the town’s Castle Park where the attack took place.

However, it was two acquaintances of the killer who came forward and gave the information that led detectives to Colin Boles’ door.

Shortly after Boles attacked Mr McMahon in the town’s Castle Park on July 26, 2001 he spoke to two “friends’’ in a car.

Covered in blood, he claimed that he had been in a fight.

But it was during this chance meeting that Boles touched the car with one of his bloodied hands.

And in the days after the killing, the acquaintances heard of the murder of the pensioner and contacted the police.

The car they were in was removed for a detailed forensic examination.

Using the latest in hi-tech DNA testing, police were able to match a bloodstain on the car with that of his victim.

“It was the breakthrough we needed. Without that we might never have got Boles. He would still be walking the streets today,” a security source told us at the time.

Boles finally admitted to the murder after almost two years of denials.

He changed his plea to guilty just as his trial was about to start.

Detective Inspector Todd Clements said at the time: “He carried out a despicable and totally unprovoked attack. Mr McMahon had been beaten very severely.

“The consequence of Boles’ actions has been a tragedy for his victim’s family but his guilty pleas was a positive result for the rule of law.”

steven.moore@sundayworld.com

PSNI officers arrested a man over attack on baby

A baby is in critical condition in a Belfast hospital after being attacked.

A 23-year-old man has been charged in connection with the assault.

PSNI officers investigating the incident have examined a house at Glasvey Park in the Twinbrook area of West Belfast.

The baby is believed to have sustained injuries and was admitted to hospital in Belfast on Wednesday.

The man will appear in court on Friday morning after being charged with grievous bodily harm.

Baby Caragh Walsh, three months, died in hospital

Dad Christopher O'Neill

This is the first picture of tragic baby Caragh Walsh who died in hospital in Belfast.

A post-mortem medical examination will investigate how Caragh Walsh, of Glasvey Drive in Twinbrook in West Belfast, died, the Police Service of Northern Ireland said.

She was brought to Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital on Wednesday night and remained in a critical condition.

Little Caragh, who had suffered severe head injuries, lost her fight for life in the RVH on Friday night.

Her 23-year-old father Christopher O'Neill appeared before a judge in Craigavon Magistrates' Court in Co Armagh charged with grievous bodily harm.

O'Neill had admitted to police that he had shaken the baby, the court heard.

A spokesman from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said: "Following the court appearance of a 23-year-old man in Craigavon this morning detectives from

Serious Crime Branch will be consulting with the Public Prosecution Service in relation to this case."
 

Actor Steve Coogan outside the Dufferin Arms during filming

Dame Judy Dench outside Killyleagh Castle

THE pub which featured in the movie Philomena has had to put its Oscars party on hold – because it doesn’t have a licence.

And the famous Dufferin Arms in Killyleagh, Co Down, hasn’t had the proper paperwork to sell liquor for SIX years.

The bar was used to film Oscar-nominated Philomena with James Bond actress Judi Dench and had planned to throw an awards party next month.

But it’s turned out her character may have had a licence to kill but the premises didn’t have a licence to sell booze.

The oversight came to light recently when the Crown Bar in Belfast had to close its doors temporarily after landlords realised its licence had run out.

Killyleagh publican Austin McCullough says the story prompted him to check the Dufferin Arms’ licence, and he realised it had run out six years ago.

He’s now facing a bill of up to £70,000 to reinstate the licence because of the length of time it’s been expired, and legal fees.

The landlord of 14 years also had the heart-breaking task of laying off up to 20 staff until he’s back in business. 

Bar staff, waiters and cleaners have been told it could be weeks before the bar can open again because the earliest court date he could secure was March 4.

Mr McCullough has taken full responsibility for the mistake: “It is my fault and I hold my hands up but I never did this knowingly,” says the popular landlord.

“When we first closed I was hoping we would re-open very quickly but   now I need to buy  a new licence, which will take time.

“Unfortunately the staff had to be laid off during that time and this is a blow to the town as  we have had to close our community room which is used for the bridge and book clubs and various events,” he says.

The pub’s predicament has garnered sympathy locally and a notice on its door directs customers to the neighbouring Picnic Delicatessen with the warning ‘no booze though…they don’t have a licence either.’

Its Oscars party planned for March 2 has also had to be cancelled, when the bar hoped to make the most of its worldwide platform.

The interior was used to film scenes between Judi Dench and Steve Coogan for the movie Philomena in 2012. 

The 69-year-old actress was a huge hit during filming in Killyleagh when she toured the shops, signed autographs and posed for pictures with locals. 

Ms Dench has been nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of Philomena Lee, an Irish woman who was forced to give her three year old son up for adoption by nuns in an Irish convent because she was a young unmarried mother. 

Coogan plays journalist Martin Sixsmith who took up her story and helped her search for the child she’d lost.

The film, which was also shot in Rostrevor and Bryansford, has been nominated for best picture, best adapted screenplay and best original score.

The pub won’t be able to open its doors again until two days after the glittering awards ceremony but it’s expected they will have a belated Oscar’s party.

Russian mafia thug lives in Belfast

Paula Crothers

Olivia Reilly

Noel Reilly

The UVF is harbouring Russian drug runners responsible for two Ecstasy deaths in the last few days.

The Sunday World can reveal that three people have lost their lives in separate suspected drugs-death incidents across Belfast in the last four days having taken E-type tablets.

At least one other person is understood to have been hospitalised.

But our sources say two of the deaths were caused by E-tabs peddled by Russian gangsters previously exposed in this newspaper. 

The deadly tablets have been manufactured with a new synthetic drug which takes longer for users to achieve a ‘high’ and they then take more.

It is the latest tragic instalment in a sorry tale of misery with the number of people believed to have fallen victim to the drugs epidemic rising on a weekly basis.

And now it seems that last year’s plague of ecstasy deaths in Ulster is continuing into 2014.

Loyalist terror group the UVF is working hand in hand with a ruthless eastern European criminal gang first exposed in this newspaper. 

We can reveal that in return for a slice of the profits the UVF in south Belfast offer protection and runners for the organised crime gang.

The gang, known as The Russians, but comprised of people from various countries in Eastern Europe, now controls the drugs trade in south Belfast and across the city centre.

This is the first time they have been implicated in the Ecstasy death scandal.

We understand they are selling E-type drugs for a £1 apiece.

Revellers can even buy in bulk – £75 will buy you 100 tablets.

UVF sources have told us that there is growing unease at the level of co-operation between the terror group and The Russians.

One source told us: “The UVF has struck a deal with the Devil.”

Loyalist sources have told us that the paramilitary group is split down the middle.

The Russian invaders are running brothels and are heavily armed and despite UVF efforts they have out-muscled their loyalist rivals.

“The Russians are the bosses,” said our source.

“They control the drugs trade, they have the UVF dancing to their tune.”

The Russians feed their new ‘buddy’  terror bosses with cocaine and Ecstasy – buying their right to sell life threatening drugs on the streets of Belfast.

One South Belfast UVF boss is now said to be hopelessly addicted to cocaine.

The organised crime gang sell high grade coke and they supply him with his fix. So dependent is he on the drug that he is prepared to exile members of his own organisation for standing up to the invaders from Eastern Europe.

He has issued a death threat against three veteran UVF men who stood up to the Russians.

The Sunday World can reveal that four carloads of UVF goons arrived at the homes of three people who have stood up to the Russians.

In October a member of the Russian gang narrowly avoided serious injury when a crossbow bolt was fired through the window of a house on Belfast’s Donegall Road.

The man who fired the bolt -– a 30 year UVF veteran – has been ordered to leave south Belfast.

“He has been told that if he doesn’t leave they (UVF) will take him, kill him and bury him on Cave Hill,” said our source.

“They told him that by the time they finished with him, the only way anyone would recognise him would be by his tattoos.

“This is a man with 30 years under his belt in the UVF.”

In October the Sunday World first lifted the lid on The Russians.

In a special investigation we revealed how they were operating in the loyalist heartland of south Belfast

With a criminal empire stretching across Europe they have shoved the UVF out of the way. 

They now control the drugs trade in Belfast and are operating at least 20 brothels across the city.

The death pills are suspected to be so deadly because illegal drugs manufacturers are cutting the powder the pills are made from with a new synthetic drug designed to mimic the effects of MDMA.

PMA is a cheaper alternative to MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, which is being used by illegal drugs manufacturers to pack out the pills. 

It creates a similar ‘high’ to MDMA but it takes longer to kick in. 

One of the theories behind the deaths is that users are taking more pills because they think it isn’t working. Then a large amount of PMA kicks in at once causing users to overdose.

Last year we reported on how the police had investigated a possible drugs link in the deaths of eight people in June.

In August, drugs squad police arrested four men in connection with the deaths of Noel Reilly, 36, and Olivia Reilly, 29, from Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh. The pair were not related. 

In a separate incident in August a man was arrested on suspicion of a drugs offence after the death of 19-year-old Paula Crothers from Dundonald who was at a house party in South Belfast.

By Richard Sullivan and Jamie McDowell

Dissident republicans are believed to be behind the explosive parcels

Suspected explosive devices sent to armed forces recruitment offices bear "hallmarks of Northern Ireland-related terrorism", a UK government Street spokeswoman has said.

One of the suspicious packages was stamped with a Republic of Ireland postmark but no specific group has claimed responsibility for the attack, sources told the Press Association.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron chaired a meeting of the Government's Cobra emergencies committee to discuss the suspicious parcels, which sources said were "crude" in design but "could have caused injury to others".

A Number 10 spokeswoman said: "Seven suspect packages have been identified as containing small, crude, but potentially viable devices bearing the hallmarks of Northern Ireland-related terrorism.

"These have now been safely dealt with by the police and bomb disposal units.

"Guidance has been issued to staff at all military establishments and Royal Mail asking them to be extra vigilant and to look out for any suspect packages and the screening procedures for mail to armed forces careers offices is being reviewed.

"The national threat level remains under constant review."

Four parcels were discovered at army careers offices in Oxford, Brighton, Canterbury and the Queensmere shopping centre in Slough today, counter-terrorism police officers said.

One package was found in Aldershot, Hampshire, yesterday, while two packets were found on Tuesday at the armed forces careers office in Reading, Berkshire, and the Army and RAF careers office in Chatham, Kent, the South East Counter Terrorism Unit (Sectu) said.

Ministry of Defence bomb disposal units were called, although this is routine with any suspect package.

The official threat level for Northern Ireland-related terrorism is set separately for Northern Ireland and Great Britain, that is, England, Wales and Scotland.

In Northern Ireland it is "severe" and in Great Britain "moderate", meaning an attack is possible, but not likely.

James Brokenshire MP, who recently took on the post of immigration minister but was previously security minister, was present at the Cobra meeting, which is also likely to have been attended by intelligence chiefs as well as Government officials and senior police officers.

Detective Superintendent Stan Gilmour, of Sectu, earlier said: "The contents of the packages are suspicious in nature and will now be sent off for forensic examination.

"Even if the contents are determined to be a viable device, they pose a very low-level threat and are unlikely to cause significant harm or damage.

"When a suspect package is reported we have a routine response which means we may need to evacuate the area if necessary until we can be sure it poses no threat to the public.

"While this can cause concern and disruption for local communities, it is a necessary precaution until we know what we are dealing with."

Advice has been sent to the Royal Mail and to the Ministry of Defence to ensure that staff "remain vigilant", Sectu added.

The Queensmere shopping centre in Slough was temporarily evacuated, while cordons were placed close to all offices where packages have been found.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said security advice has been reiterated to its personnel, while the Royal Mail said it was co-operating with the police investigation.

It is understood that a suspected package found at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk was a false alarm and is not related to the investigation at the armed forces recruitment offices.

James 'Hammy' Hamilton was the target

Bullet hole where driver was shot

Bullet exited driver's neck

UVF godfather 'Ugly Doris' ordered two men to be shot in an ambush in Bangor but the bullet-ridden victims were able to sped away from the 'amateur' hitman.

Now UVF target James ‘Hammy’ Hamilton has vowed not to back down in his simmering feud with terror boss Stephen Matthews.

The Sunday World understands  the 31-year-old father of one is furious ‘Ugly Doris’ Matthews broke a “gentleman’s agreement” that there would be no further attacks providing Hamilton  stayed off his patch.

Last weekend’s gun attack in a Bangor housing estate was the seventh attempt on his  life in little more than two years.

This latest attack was the closest they have come to getting their man.

Hamilton has the driver of the car, his friend Danny,  to thank for his life – despite three gunshot wounds and bleeding heavily the 23-year-old managed to drive away from the scene.

Initial reports suggested it was Hamilton who had been hit three times in the upper body but we can reveal it was his friend Danny.

One bullet lodged in his neck close to a main artery and inches from his spinal chord.

The unemployed Co Down man left hospital within 24 hours of undergoing life-saving surgery amid fears that he could become an innocent victim of the Hamilton/Matthews feud.

The Sunday World has spoken to sources close to the shooting victim.

“He is a totally innocent man, he has no record and his only “crime” is that he is a friend of Hammy,” said our source.

Our contact, who is known to the victim, said Danny remains in shock and he revealed how close he came to death.  

We can reveal Hamilton was spotted as he arrived to visit a close relative  in a cul-de-sac in Bangor’s Whitehill housing estate around midnight last Sunday evening. Within minutes a call was made to Matthews who personally ordered the hit.

“Hammy asked Danny if he would give him a lift to Bangor, he wanted to visit a relative who had just come from holiday, Danny said he would,” said our source. 

“They’re mates; Danny knows what Hammy has been involved in but he has nothing to do with it, he’s totally clean.”

The Sunday  World understands the pair were inside the house in Bangor for only half an hour. As they drove away from the cul-de-sac they paused briefly, it was at that moment a lone gunman carrying a semi-automatic handgun approached the car.    

He pointed the weapon at Danny’s head with only the width of the car windscreen between them.

The driver ducked and the first shot hit him in the shoulder.  The would-be assassin fired again this time hitting Danny in the side with bullet exiting his neck. A third shot hit in him in the chest.  In all the attacker fired at least seven shots with only one finding his intended target.

Hamilton suffered a wound to his leg – his attempts to get out of the car were hampered by the fact their vehicle had come to rest close to a parked car.

“Hammy couldn’t open his door, he was convinced Danny was dead and that he was seconds from being shot dead himself. It was only when Danny groaned that he realised he was still alive. Hammy screamed “drive! drive!” and somehow Danny managed to get the car moving and they got away.”

Bleeding heavily the pair got themselves to hospital where Danny required a blood transfusion before undergoing major surgery. 

These shocking images passed to the Sunday World show how close he came to death.

Danny told our source he is convinced had  they waited for an ambulance he would have bled to death.

“Hammy knows his friend saved his life,  this time he really thought he was dead.”

The shooting is the latest in series of brazen attacks ordered by rogue terror boss Matthews.  The UVF mobster has been allowed to act with impunity orchestrating street violence during the flags protest, ordering punishment attacks and shootings including  the brutal attempted murder of his former lover Jemma McGrath.

Jemma was shot five times and left for dead last October by a masked gang acting on Matthews’ instructions.

Astonishingly PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggott has insisted the catalogue of terrorist acts ordered by Matthews and carried out by  his east Belfast unit do not constitute a breach of the UVF’s ceasefire.

In March 2012 Matthews ordered a bomb attack on Hamilton’s then home at Invernook Parade in east Belfast.   

Hamilton, a self confessed drug dealer and ex-con, was lucky to escape with his life when the device packed with powergel was planted at the front door of the house. 

He was upstairs at the time and blast wrecked the downstairs of the terraced house.

He has  now been shot seven times, all on the orders of  out of control  UVF boss Matthews.  

In January last year Matthews had a narrow escape himself  when he was approached by a lone gunman outside his East Belfast home. The masked man’s gun jammed and Doris survived.  The finger of blame was pointed at Hamilton and he was questioned by police but no charges were brought.

The feuding pair struck a deal – there would be no further attempts on his life, proving Hamilton stayed out of east Belfast.

“Hammy was terrified a member of his family or an innocent bystander could  lose their life as a result of the feud, he’s not afraid of Matthews but he doesn’t want a innocent person dying,” said the source.

“Hammy has stuck to his side of the bargain and stayed away. He was in Bangor for half an hour in the middle of the night and somebody clocked him and wired off Matthews.”

Within 20 minutes the UVF was able to have a gun on the streets and someone prepared to commit murder – and this from an organisation supposed to be on ceasefire. Even the Powergel used in the bomb attack on his home 18 months ago was supposed to have been decommissioned.

The only reason Hamilton is alive, say our sources, is that the shooter was an “amateur.”  Matthews has been forced to rely on untested gunman as 

UVF veterans are reluctant to risk jail to settle a score for their boss.

“He had clearly been told what to do, take out the driver first so that there was no chance of a getaway,” said the source.  

“Danny should be dead; there’s no way he should have  survived when he was that close. 

“The shooter wasn’t clinical;  Hammy has said he didn’t know how to handle his gun, he looked uncomfortable.

“I wouldn’t have liked to be in his shoes when he reported back to Matthews that Hammy was still alive.”

Hamilton has  told friends that he has no intention of seeking confrontation with Matthews, but the UVF chief has made it clear he has no intention of burying the hatchet.

There are now  real fears that Matthews is out of control.    He refuses to take orders from the UVF leadership and has created his own fiefdom in the east of the city where he commands total control, running a huge drugs racket, loan sharking scams and racketeering.