UVF-linked drug dealer who flooded Belfast streets with cocaine back behind bars
Pusher caught in car with false registration plates
A drug dealer who flooded the streets of Belfast with cocaine alongside two UVF brothers has been remanded back into custody, accused of breaching his Serious Crime Prevention Order (SCPO).
Standing handcuffed in the dock of Belfast Magistrates Court on Friday, 37-year-old William 'Buff' Hunter was charged with breaching his SCPO on April 24 this year by failing to notify police of the details of vehicle in which he was a passenger.
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Belfast Telegraph
3 days ago
- Belfast Telegraph
Jackie Coulter's daughter hits out at ombudsman as report on UVF feud murder delayed again
The daughter of a loyalist murdered by the UVF says she has lost all faith in the Police Ombudsman after the publication of a report into her father's death was again delayed. The oversight body had promised to have Operation Abraham - an investigation into five killings carried out by the Shankill UVF between 1999 and 2010 - ready by the end of March.
Glasgow Times
4 days ago
- Glasgow Times
Prosecutors are after Glasgow gangland figure over flouting order
Convicted drug trafficker Fergus Smith had been hit with a 'super-Asbo' in 2019 following being jailed for money laundering in 2019. One rule of the strict order - designed to tackle and restrict criminals on their release from prison - was that the now 43 year-old had to declare any income of £10,000 or above. But, during a probe into his finances, it emerged Smith had £16,486 sitting in his Paddy Power account. In total, Smith - a reported associate of the notorious Daniel crime clan - had £55,000 of "income from various sources" that he had kept quiet about. Smith was jailed for 13 months in February after he pleaded guilty to breaching the Serious Crime Prevention Order (SCPO) and possessing criminal property. Smith appeared back in the dock today at Glasgow Sheriff Court for a confiscation hearing. He was handed a statement of information by a police officer which stated that the Crown are seeking £326,000 from him. Smith was also ordered to present to the court of any finances which he has currently available to him. The matter has been adjourned until August for this to be done. READ NEXT: Man admits murdering 21-year-old partner Phoenix Spencer Horn in East Kilbride READ NEXT: Court hears how much delivery driver made for involvement in drug dealing READ NEXT: Details emerge on case against man accused of Brodie MacGregor murder in Glasgow Smith was previously locked up for 10 months after being caught with £15,000 of dirty money at his then home in the city's Bridgeton. A three-year SCPO was then imposed on him in October 2019. Smith had to inform the police with 48 hours of any sources of income from work, benefits or rental of any properties. He assured the authorities that he would notify of any changes. A probe was sparked, however, when it emerged Smith had a purchase agreement on a sporty Audi S3 car in June 2020. A check revealed he had no self-declared income. A warrant was then sought to investigate Smith's bank transactions between late 2019 and October 2021. Fiscal Darren Harty said: "The statement showed that Smith had outgoings of £70,831 and an income from various sources totalling £55,000 none of which was notified to police. "A total of £16,486 was received from the account of Paddy Power. "This was from 50 deposits from the Paddy Power account ranging from £62.50 to £1,320.85." There statement also revealed a near £4,000 payment from car dealer Arnold Clark, seven amounts totalling £10,300 from an accident repair firm called 'Raltec Paisley' as well as £25,000 in cash deposits via the Post Office. Smith, of the city's Mount Vernon, was arrested in December 2021 and replied 'no" to each accusation put to him. Thomas Ross KC, defending, told a previous hearing: 'He was well aware that with the terms of the order it would be open for the police to gain access to his Santander bank account to see if he complied. 'In a way, it was inevitable that he would be caught with the money from his employment. 'In terms of the other charge, I wasn't in a position to explain anything with a substantial defence. 'It was in his bank account and it was through that police found out about the offences and he was prosecuted. 'He had been doing a course working on railways when the network is down at two and three in the morning and access is gained by ropes. 'He did this work in January and February when drug dealers would be in their beds - if he has money from illegal means he would not be out cleaning the railways.' (Image: Kevin Gerbil Carroll) In 2008, Smith was one of 17 members of a gang given sentences totalling more than 100 years at Liverpool Crown Court for planning to flood Scotland with cocaine. He is also said to be an associate of shamed ex-soldier Martyn Fitzsimmons - locked up in 2018 for his links to organised crime. Smith was a former friend of Daniel clan enforcer Kevin 'Gerbil' Carroll, who was shot dead in an Asda car park in Robroyston, Glasgow, in 2010.
The Herald Scotland
13-06-2025
- The Herald Scotland
I know the ingredients of Ulster's riots only too well
When I saw images of the homes of immigrant families in Ballymena with loyalist flags placed in their windows to ward off racist mobs, and fearful handmade posters reading 'I work in a care home', I felt as if I was back there. It was all so horribly, desperately, familiar. I grew up about ten miles from the epicentre of the anti-immigrant rioting, in my hometown Antrim. Ballymena and Antrim are like twins. Same people, same problems, same hate. Loyalism runs strong here, as it does in other towns where violence spread: Larne, Portadown, Newtownabbey, Carrickfergus. As a young reporter, I covered crime and terrorism in these places. Read more from Neil Mackay: Back then, the towns of County Antrim were dominated by loyalist paramilitaries. Other areas had Republican gunmen and the IRA. Where I grew up, the UVF and UDA were in charge. Though there's always exceptions to the rule. Republican areas had loyalist pockets, and vice versa. Nothing is ever simple in the north of Ireland. My own family history was far from simple. On my maternal side, it was all Irish, Republican and Catholic. On the paternal side, all British, Loyalist and Protestant. Only in a place like Northern Ireland could the term 'mixed marriage' exist into the 21st century. So I got to know what makes both sides tick. I learned to understand – not accept, just understand – their hatreds. When I learned enough, I'd had enough. That's why I left and have lived in Scotland these last 30 years. I couldn't bear the place anymore. Though, in my heart, I still love its beauty, and its people. When my people are good – on both sides – they're very, very good. When they're bad, they're monsters. There's a terrible truth about what has happened in Northern Ireland, which might help folk in Scotland, bewildered by the labyrinthine history and tribal complexity of my country, understand the deep roots of recent events. Read more: The truth lies in what's called the 'siege mentality' of Ulster's loyalists. I deliberately differentiate between loyalism and unionism. Unionism is a perfectly respectable, mainstream political position. Loyalism has much darker shades to it. Everything is on a spectrum in Northern Ireland. There is, after all, a world of difference between an Irish nationalist who believes in gaining a United Ireland through democratic means, and an advocate of the IRA and armed republicanism. Loyalism's siege mentality has deep roots in the past. It goes back to the Plantation of Ulster in the 1600s, when mostly Scottish Protestants settled lands once owned by Irish Catholics. In effect, Ireland became the first 'British' colony, and Ulster was ground zero. To take someone's land you must fight them, and that means you must kill them and they'll kill you back. To kill people, you must learn to hate them. Therein lies the source of loyalism's siege mentality. Loyalists just never felt safe on the land they took. Why would someone from Ireland, like me, have a name like 'Mackay'? The plantation is your answer. Sometime, long ago, my paternal Scottish ancestors colonised the land which my maternal Irish ancestors owned. Siege mentality requires a sense of your own supremacy. You must think: this is my land, nobody else deserves it. Wars and bloodshed have come and gone, but such ancestral traits are hard to shake. All of us carry some burden inherited from our grandfathers and grandmothers. The Troubles are over. Such a ghastly euphemism for what it was: an ethnic civil war of neighbour against neighbour. But grievance and supremacy linger on. To many hardline loyalists, this land is still their land and nobody can claim any right to it; others do not belong, just as Catholics once didn't belong. You can see how such deep psychological currents can easily wash up against the shores of present-day racism and anti-immigrant hate. Thus, all those loyalist flags placed in immigrant windows; thus, all those signs saying 'we're local, we work in care homes'. It was an attempt to say 'we don't threaten you', 'we aren't here to take what you believe is yours'. Even after the riots began, politicians from the hardline Traditional Unionist Voice party talked of 'the influx of Roma' and 'very real grievances' among the people of Ballymena. So far, it appears that loyalist paramilitaries are not orchestrating the violence. Yet. Though the burning of homes has called to mind images of loyalist mobs burning Catholics out of Belfast at the start of the Troubles: the trigger for the arrival of the British army. Aaron Edwards, a Northern Irish security analyst and author who I know and whose work on loyalism I respect, says the absence of loyalist paramilitaries 'may not last for long'. The areas where rioting happened are poor. It is easy for violent men to exploit marginalisation and deprivation. Evidently, supremacy and poverty are a combustible mix. Nor can we forget the long links between loyalist terrorists and the British far-right. That truth came roaring into sight during last summer's far-right riots, which spread from England to Ulster. These are dangerous times in Northern Ireland, where violence and hatred are never far from the surface. What we're seeing may look very new – very 21st century – but the tragedy is that this is a very old toxin still poisoning the country that I both love and loathe.
