Hearing begins on Adair jail release

The North’s sentence review committee will begin an oral hearing today on whether the notorious loyalist Johnny Adair should be released from prison. The leader of the Ulster Defence Association was put back behind bars last August, for allegedly breaking the conditions of his terms of release.

Johnny Adair was convicted of directing terrorism after the RUC tape-recorded him boasting of the murders he had committed. Released early, Adair was later filmed wearing a UDA tee shirt, accompanied by his dog, clad in similar attire, and cheering as loyalist gunmen fired a volley of shots at a bonfire in Portadown. At the height of the loyalist feud, which he was suspected of instigating, h was sent back to jail, but the sentence review commission ordered he be freed again, saying it was not satisfied sufficient evidence existed to hold him in prison. Peter Mandelson is opposing his release on intelligence grounds and a two-day hearing begins today with both sides saying they are confident of winning.