Lisa Dorrian
Lisa Dorrian1.jpg
Jimmy Seales was fingered by cops searching for missing Bangor woman Lisa Dorrian because the killer had been suspected of supplying cars to the LVF.
The 56-year-old, who’s serving a life sentence for gunning down Philip Strickland, was also believed to have been involved in doing drug deals with a string of loyalists including former UDA ‘C’ Company boss Gary ‘Smicker’ Smith.
And we can reveal Seales’ links with deadly loyalists goes back as far as when Portadown loyalist Billy Wright was alive.
Last week we revealed how Seales told us that one of his three farms had been the subject of a week long search by detectives and forensic officers searching for Lisa Dorrian.
The stunning 25-year-old went missing nine years ago and it’s suspected she was murdered by loyalist drug dealers.
Jimmy Seales
In October 2012 cops dug up large chunks of Seales’ farm in Comber and used hi-tech search equipment as they looked for a car and the potential body of the missing Co Down woman.
Last night a former loyalist told the Sunday World that Seales’ links with the LVF had sparked the search.
“Jimmy Seales used to do business with all kinds of loyalists,” said the source.
“He was doing drug deals with the members of the LVF and the UDA. He had been dealing with the UVF men in mid-Ulster when Billy Wright was around.
“And he continued to do business with Wright after he formed the LVF. He used to supply the LVF with cars."
“And he was very close to Gary Smith. They did a lot of business together.”
Body-builder Smith was a notorious convicted gunman for the UDA’s once feared ‘C’ Company team on the Shankill Road.
In 1995 Smith was sentenced to 16 years for conspiracy to murder prominent republican Brian Gillen but he was released a few years later as part of the Good Friday Agreement.
In 2000 Smith and his ‘C’ Company pals were involved in extraordinary scenes on the Shankill Road when they sparked a feud by unfurling an LVF banner as they passed a UVF bar.
His allegiance with the LVF was confirmation that Smith and his cronies were doing drug deals with the LVF in Portadown.
He was back behind bars in 2001 when his licence was revoked for making hoax bomb calls to the police connected to the infamous Holy Cross Primary School picket.
And during the ‘90s Smith, like his terror boss Johnny Adair, had forged a lucrative business relationship with the LVF.
Seales’ farm was searched just weeks after he had been arrested and charged with the murder of 37-year-old farm labourer Strickland.
By then Lisa Dorrian had been missing for seven years.
“Smith was selling drugs for the LVF and Jimmy Seales was involved with them.
“That’s why the police wanted to search his land but it’s strange they didn’t search it until he was in jail for killing Philip Strickland.
“The cops must have known he had links with the LVF. After the Strickland murder someone must have been talking to the cops about Seales.”
Detectives called off their search of Seales’ farm after a week without making any significant discoveries.
Last year Seales told the Sunday World cops had been looking for Lisa Dorrian on his Comber farm but he was adamant that he was not connected to it.
“They spent a whole week digging up my farm searching for Lisa Dorrian but I have no idea why,” he told us during a jailhouse rant.
“It had absolutely nothing to do with me. The cops have it in for me though – that’s for sure.”
Lisa Dorrian disappeared in February 2005 and was last seen at a party in a caravan in Ballyhalbert and ever since her family have fought a long campaign to have her body returned so they can lay her to rest.
Police have made several arrests but no-one has been charged with her murder.