Ex UDA leader Gray shot dead

MrJoeSoap

RTE wrote:

Ex UDA leader Gray shot dead

04 October 2005 22:42

Police in Belfast confirm there has been a fatal shooting in the east of the city tonight.

Former UDA leader, Jim Gray, was shot dead in Clarawood estate. It is believed he was shot when he answered the front door of his home to be confronted by two gunmen.

Mr Gray was out on bail awaiting trial on money laundering charges after being arrested by police as part of an investigation into serious crime in Northern Ireland.

He was ousted as UDA leader in east Belfast several months ago.

Tonight's murder is seen as a serious escalation in the feud taking place among Loyalist paramilitary organisations.

Mr Gray survived a murder bid three years ago when he was seriously injured in a shooting linked to a loyalist feud.

Earlier this year he was expelled from the leadership of the UDA after falling out with former paramilitary associates, and this may have been a factor in his murder.

IOL wrote:

Gray murder thought to be UDA 'housekeeping act'
05/10/2005 - 00:44:18

Former Ulster Defence Association brigadier Jim Gray tonight joined a grim catalogue of leading loyalist paramilitary figures to be gunned down on the streets of Northern Ireland.

However, unlike the murders of leading loyalists like John McMichael and Billy Wright, his murder was not expected to unleash a wave of violence against the republican community.

A flamboyant figure in the UDA, Jim Gray had a high profile in the Northern Ireland tabloid press.

His dress sense and penchant for jewellery earned him the nickname of Doris Day.

But he also presided over the East Belfast brigade of the UDA, a ruthless terror organisation also steeped in criminal activity.

As his body lay stretched out behind a car outside the house where he had been living after being given bail following his arrest earlier this year, residents in the Knock Grove area were saying little about the events which led to his death.

But former associates in the Ulster Defence Association, which expelled him before his arrest, and others in loyalist paramilitary circles believed he had been gunned down as part of an internal housekeeping move by the organisation.

“This is different from other shootings,” a loyalist source observed.

“Word of the shooting travelled very fast. People knew within 10, 15 minutes in other parts of the city that Jim Gray had been shot in East Belfast.

“I heard from someone at the Glentoran [football] match. He would have had a long list of people who would have wanted him not to spill the beans about what went on in the UDA.”

Another loyalist source said the shooting of Mr Gray amounted to the settling of old scores.

“This won’t have an impact on the wider process,” he said.

“This is something which really only affects the UDA.

“There is a sense that things are coming to an end in Northern Ireland and maybe this is a case of people tying up the remaining loose ends.”

The Independent wrote:

Jim 'Doris Day' Gray shot dead in loyalist feud
By David McKittrick, Ireland Correspondent
Published: 05 October 2005

One of Belfast's most senior and most flamboyant loyalist paramilitary figures has been shot dead in an attack that appears to be part of an internal feud.

Jim Gray, until recently the east Belfast brigadier of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), the largest loyalist group in Northern Ireland, was shot twice in the chest by men who burst into his mother's home yesterday. He had answered a knock at the door of the house in Clarawood estate, a loyalist area.

Gray, 47, had been released on bail on 15 September after spending some months in prison on charges of money-laundering and possession of the proceeds of crime.

Half a dozen Protestants have this year been killed in loyalist feuding, chiefly between the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Loyalist Volunteer Force.

The Gray killing is however most likely to have resulted from tensions within the UDA. Since his arrest, former colleagues have been " bad-mouthing" him in public, leading to speculation that his life was at risk.

The Crown opposed granting bail to him, saying that he was under threat from paramilitaries and warning that his release could result in violence.

Gray, whose nickname was 'Doris Day' for his flambouyant dress sense and dyed hair, was heavily involved with drugs, both as a cocaine user and as large-scale dealer. He was reputed to have made large amounts of money from drugs and protection racketeering and extortion. When arrested in April of this year, he had almost £300,000 in cash and a banker's draft for £10,000. He is also believed to have owned a series of properties in Belfast and Spain.

A number of senior UDA figures have been imprisoned or lost their positions in recent years as the organisation has gone through turmoil.

Serious internal trouble was stirred up by its one-time leader Johnny " Mad Dog" Adair, including the murder of another UDA brigadier, John Gregg. Adair has since moved to Bolton, where he has repeatedly been in trouble with the law.

The Gray killing happened hours after the Northern Ireland Secretary, Peter Hain, urged loyalist paramilitary groups to end their violence and follow the example of the IRA in decommissioning their weapons. Loyalist violence has been evident throughout this year, with serious riots breaking out in several parts of Belfast in recent weeks, as well as campaigns of intimidation in the city and in County Antrim.

The East Belfast Democratic Unionist MP, Peter Robinson, condemned the killing of Jim Gray, saying, "Those who take the law into their own hands have nothing to contribute to society. There is no excuse for acting as judge, jury and executioner."

As the recent rioting indicated, the extreme Protestant groups are in a militant frame of mind at the moment. Gray was expelled from the leadership of the UDA earlier this year, and police will now be watching to see whether his killing is followed by a purge of those who were close to him.

The authorities have said that millions of pounds has been spent on police overtime in an attempt to quell UVF * LVF feuding, and in response to the rioting.

Don't want to get into abusing a dead man but it really isn't a suprise he has been killed.

OfflerCrocGod

MrJoeSoap wrote:

Don't want to get into abusing a dead man but it really isn't a suprise he has been killed.

Exactly he was part of a Mafia organization like the IRA; what do you expect?