Dissidents planned to kill Johnny at 50th bash

The rebel republicans aimed to assassinate the one-time blood brother terror twins as Adair and pals celebrated a 50th birthday bash at a Scottish hideaway. Adair – who turned 50 last Sunday – only became aware of the double hit bid after he stepped off a plane from Spain at Glasgow Airport on Tuesday. 

 

The former Ulster Freedom Fighters’ commander had been enjoying a special anniversary holiday in Benidorm with his partner Lynne Benson and the couple’s baby son Riley. As anti-terror cops stepped forward to speak to Adair in the arrivals hall, the ex-terror chief visibly tensed in front of fellow passengers. He wrongly assumed he was being scooped in connection with some past misdemeanor.

 

However, Mad Dog’s worst fears soon subsided when police told him that an alleged dissident republican gun gang planning to murder him and his pal ‘Skelly’ McCrory, were now under arrest. Last Tuesday, as a ring of steel made up of heavily-armed police officers surrounded the court building, five terror suspects charged with plotting to kill Adair and McCrory, presented in the dock at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

 

The alleged Irish republican sympathisers appeared amid a massive security operation inside and outside the court precincts. Four men and a woman are accused of conspiring to murder McCrory and Adair. Suspects Anton Duffy (39), Martin Hughes (34), Paul Stephen Sands (30), Stacy McAllister (27), and Edward Cameron McVeigh (26), were charged with a string of terror offences. All were remanded in custody after a series of separate hearings last Wednesday.

 

And on Friday afternoon a sixth person, John Gorman (56), from Irvine, Scotland, also appeared in court in connection with the same case. Anton Duffy, who is originally from Donegal but now living in Glasgow, is the only Irish person detained over the murder plot. It is understood Scottish police were assisted by PSNI officers and MI5 personel in setting up the sophisticated sting operation. 

 

Both Adair and McCrory settled in Scotland after being ousted from Northern Ireland by former friends in the UFF following a vicious feud. Adair now lives in Troon, while McCrory resides in Ayr. Adair was sent down for 16 years after pleading guilty to directing terrorism in 1995. McCrory received a 12-year sentence when he was caught red-handed three years earlier on his way to murder IRA commanders Brian Joseph Gillen and Martin ‘Duckser’ Lynch and two female IRA members.

 

Both Adair and McCrory were released under the Good Friday Agreement. This week, in an exclusive interview, McCrory said he could hardly believe what he was hearing when police told him of the plot. And 48-year-old McCrory – who these days lives openly as a gay man in the west of Scotland – revealed he may even have recently entertained one of his alleged assassins in his own home.

 

Said McCrory: “At first I could not believe my ears, but the cops were deadly serious. I’m not entirely sure, but I may even have given one of the men hospitality in my home. If that is the case, it was a Judas move to gain my confidence.”

 

“Personally, I think it may just have been a few people out to make a name for themselves,” said McCrory.