Adair due for release today
UDA commander, Johnny Adair, is due for release from jail within the next two hours, with scores of loyalists gathering to greet him outside Maghaberry jail in Co Antrim.
Adair is leader of the Ulster Defence Association's so-called "C company", which police sources claim was behind the murders of at least 20 Catholic civilians in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Johnny Adair, nicknamed "Mad Dog" because of his unpredictability and fierce reputation, was jailed for sixteen years in 1994 for directing terrorism but was freed after five years, under the terms of the Good Friday agreement.
He was re-arrested in August 2000 when the British government said it had security information he was behind sectarian violence and the bloody feud with the Ulster Volunteer Force, as well as dealing in drugs and guns.
The UDA now opposes the Agreement and the British government has ruled its ceasefire is over, although associates of Adair insist he supports the peace process and may even stand in next year's assembly elections.
There are fears that freeing Adair during the volatile loyalist marching season could heighten tensions.
Some nationalists say it won't make much difference as the UDA is already involved in sectarian attacks in Belfast - but others fear he will once again wield influence over young militant elements on the Shankill.
