Loyalist visited his own murder spot

25/10/2005 - 15:14:45
A former associate of ousted UDA chief Johnny “Mad Dog” Adair was assassinated at a spot where he had been taken by his killer two days earlier, a court heard today.

Mud found on Alan McCullough’s shoes was traced to land which he visited after having a meal with William Mo Courtney who later took charge of Adair’s UDA ‘C’ Company, Belfast Crown Court was told.

Courtney, 42, has denied the murder of the 21-year-old, whose body was discovered in a shallow grave on the outskirts of the city in June 2003.

McCullough had returned to the North from exile in England after contacting Courtney, the trial heard.

It is claimed Courtney, 42, lured him back back in the knowledge that he would be killed.

On day two of the trial, barrister Geoffrey Miller said Courtney picked McCullough up from his mother’s home on the Shankill Road on May 26, 2003.

The pair drove off in a blue Mitsubishi and went to the Corrs Corner restaurant outside Belfast for a meal before McCullough returned home.

His mother noticed his shoes were muddy and after the murder they were taken away for analysis.

Mr Miller told the court: “Evidence will be given that the soil on these shoes can be linked directly to a control sample of soil from the scene.

“This conclusion, we would say, lends support to the proposition that the deceased had been at or in the vicinity of the scene of his murder two days before he was killed.”

Courtney, of Fernhill Heights, Belfast, again collected McCullough from his mother’s home on May 28, the last time he was seen alive.

Courtney also pleads not guilty to further charges of belonging to illegal paramilitary organisations, the Ulster Defence Association and the Ulster Freedom Fighters, which claimed responsibility for the murder.