Women quizzed over Gray killing

05/10/2005 - 19:10:57
Two women were tonight being questioned by detectives hunting the killers of deposed loyalist terror boss Jim Gray.

They were arrested with four men hours after the ex-Ulster Defence Association commander was assassinated by former associates desperate to silence him.

As police chiefs blamed the UDA for murdering Gray, 47, outside his father’s home, loyalists claimed he provoked his own death by returning to east Belfast after being freed from prison on bail.

One said: “He was sticking two fingers up at the organisation and there’s nobody bigger than the organisation.

“Once he got out and flaunted himself, coming back to live in a community where he wreaked havoc for years, his fate was sealed.”

Even though detectives warned the flamboyant gangster he was under threat several times since he was thrown out of the UDA in March, Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde stressed no protection was given to him.

But police who had charged him with money laundering offences did fear he would be killed after he was allowed out of jail.

Sir Hugh said: “We objected to Mr Gray getting bail. Indeed we kept him in custody for some time on serious money laundering charges.

“He applied for bail and was granted it by the High Court.

“He was subjected to conditions of bail and was not under surveillance and not under police protection.

“He was a suspect, not a witness.”

Gunmen lying in wait for Gray opened fire as he got out of a car at his father’s house in Knockwood Park, east Belfast last night.

He was hit several times at point blank range, dying almost instantly.

Gray, nicknamed Doris Day because of his designer clothes, heavy tan, bleach blonde hair and gold jewellery, had been ordered to live at the address.

Detectives confirmed they visited the house on a number of occasions to check he was meeting bail demands.

But with UDA chiefs fearing Gray was ready to provide damning information on them in return for a lighter sentence, security chiefs believe he was seen as too dangerous to their crime empires.

The organisation’s top brass are understood to have been holed up in a south Belfast bar when the killers struck last night – providing them with an alibi.

But UDA bosses had decided a long time ago that Gray had to be shot dead, police believe.

Even if there had been any dissent, the doubts were removed by a road-rage incident when Gray allegedly abused the wife of one of the new commanders.

His expulsion from the UDA was compounded a week later when he was stopped by police in a car heading towards the Irish border.

A bank draft for €10,000 and nearly £3,000 (€4,500) in cash was allegedly found in the vehicle.

Even though Gray claimed the cash came from the sale of two pubs, police argued it was the profits from extortion and drug dealing.

Superintendent George Hamilton, in charge of the inquiry, confirmed Gray’s former associates were believed to have carried out the killing.

He said: “A significant and major line of inquiry is that Mr Gray was murdered by the UDA, an organisation with which he had an association in the past.”

The suspects arrested during searches in the city were held at a serious crime suite in Antrim Police Station, 15 miles out of Belfast, he added.

Advisers to the UDA denounced Gray’s racketeering, but expressed concern for the impact on his family.

Frankie Gallagher of the Ulster Political Research Group said: “I am not surprised. My sympathy goes to his immediate family.

“What the man done and how he terrorised people ... blame cannot be laid at the door of his father or his immediate family, and my sympathy goes to them.”

Despite Gray’s reputation, police pledged to try to hunt down his murder gang.

Mr Hamilton sad: “I want to be very clear about this, Mr Gray was murdered.

“This was the brutal killing of a man by another human being.

“The Police Service of Northern Ireland will fulfil its obligation in attempting to bring to justice those responsible for the murder of James Gray.”