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Mo Courtney
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Winston Irvine
A WELL KNOWN loyalist escaped death this week in a Shankill Butchers style knife attack.
The 47-year-old was discovered slumped over the steering wheel of a car which had trundled into a lamppost on the Crumlin Road.
Initially it was thought his injuries had been caused by a road accident, but it later emerged he had suffered multiple stab wounds and he remains seriously ill in hospital.
The broad daylight attack on Tuesday comes at a time when the UDA is on the brink of a full blown crisis.
Sources have told us up to 10 people were involved in the incident surrounding the car before trying to drag their target on to the street.
They were unable to get him out but his attackers stabbed and slashed at him as he desperately tried to get away. A carload of minders supposed to protect him made off as soon as the attack got under way.
The frenzied attack lasted only a few minutes before the men made off. It is understood the knife wielding murder squad were members of the UDA’s Highfield unit.
The incident will revive memories of the bloodthirsty Shankill Butchers – a murderous gang led by UVF killer Lenny Murphy which stalked Belfast kidnapping, torturing and murdering a number of innocent catholics.
Every victim was tortured at knife point.
The Sunday World has learnt the injured man is at the centre of an internal UDA dispute in south Belfast. Ordered out of Sandy Row by south Belfast brigadier Jackie McDonald he is believed to be under the protection of lower Shankill terror chief Mo Courtney.
The injured man, whose identity is known to the Sunday World, is a suspected drug dealer and is believed to have hooked up with UFF C Company boss Courtney.
His arrival on the Shankill has ruffled feathers with many members unhappy he has been given sanctuary.
The victim was ordered out of Sandy Row after he defied McDonald’s orders to stop dealing in drugs. He swore vengeance on the terror boss and even threatened to bring guns back to the streets.
His refusal to go quietly forced McDonald’s hand who then ordered him out of his home and out of the area.
Now the organisation stands on the brink of all out war.
The stab victim retains considerable support in south Belfast where many family members still live. There is fury that the man’s former family home has been allocated to a member of the mainstream UDA who has fled north Belfast in the face of a power struggle in Tigers Bay.
McDonald made a point of welcoming the north Belfast contingent when he spoke at a Remembrance Day ceremony on Sandy Row last Sunday. He knows he is at the head of a badly fractured organisation.
North Belfast is now in the hands of a dissident UDA group led by former brigadier Andre Shoukri and sidekick Bill Hill – last weekend no members of the mainstream organisation attended remembrance ceremonies.
This latest incident is set to bring the feud into McDonald's backyard. His one time ally, ousted north Belfast brigadier John Bunting, languishes in jail facing attempted murder charges leaving the veteran terror boss increasingly isolated.
Membership in the south of the city is bitterly divided over the treatment of his former commander who, from his hospital bed has vowed revenge.
The fact he was attacked by Highfield UDA highlights how split the organisation has become. The Shankill leadership is facing revolt for turning a blind eye to Courtney’s drug dealing operations and in South East Antrim the organisation has openly defied the leadership and is actively recruiting.
Pressure has continued to rise with the revelation that UVF boss Winston ‘Winkie’ Irvine has voiced his support for the rebel UDA in the north of the city. In a Twitter exchange with renegade boss Bill Hill the head of B Company welcomed Hill’s thanks for the support of the PUP, political wing of the UVF.
Any sort of alliance between the rival terror groups spells trouble for the UDA leadership. Relations between the organisations have remained strained since the bloodletting of 2000, but having lost South East Antrimg the ruling UDA Inner Council has now lost north Belfast and the south of the city is on the cusp of a full on feud.
Meanwhile police have confirmed the man found slumped in his car had stab wounds to the chest. Officers responding to a report of a car crash on the Crumlin Road found the driver had sustained serious knife wounds.
Later a 43-year-old man who had gone to a hospital, also with stab wounds, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. He has been released on police bail while inquiries continue.
PSNI Detective Sergeant Kenneth Leckey said: “Officers received a report of a one-vehicle road traffic collision shortly before midday on the Crumlin Road. On police attendance the 47-year-old male driver of the car was discovered to have serious stab wounds to his chest. He was taken to hospital where he remains in a stable condition.
“A short time later a 43-year-old man presented himself to hospital with stab wounds.”
The officer appealed to anyone who witnessed an altercation in the Crumlin Road, Woodvale or Twaddell areas before midday on Tuesday to contact Tennent Street police on 101.