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1:51

The first paramilitary group, the UDA, had restructured

1:53

in the early 90s and were carrying out significant

1:56

attacks on the Catholic population.

1:59

Steve McKeague was a member of the UDA.

1:59

of the key players in this violence,

2:02

and the year 1993 would prove

2:04

to be one of the most lethal years yet in the history

2:06

of the Troubles.

2:17

This is the Troubles Podcast, a podcast which explores

2:19

the violence and bloodshed that occurred in Northern Ireland,

2:21

the Republic of Ireland, and Great Britain, as

2:24

multiple sides and organisations waged

2:26

a bloody conflict over the status of Northern Ireland.

2:30

We left things off towards the end of 1992, where

2:33

the UDA had been making some significant gains.

2:36

However, the year had not been without its difficulties.

2:40

The UDA were now legally branded a terrorist

2:42

organisation, to which Adair simply laughed

2:44

when he was told.

2:46

Republican power militaries were still determined to kill

2:48

their leading members,

2:49

and this was shown when the IPLO, the Irish

2:51

People's Liberation Organisation, launched

2:54

a deadly assault on the 16th of February 1992,

2:58

killing young Protestant Andrew Johnson when

3:00

the store he was working in was raked with gunfire.

3:04

The Provisionals hadn't taken their eyes off the UDA

3:07

and were determined to try and wipe them out. As

3:11

the new year passed and the UDA moved into 1993,

3:14

something unique was happening. It

3:17

is well known that the tit-for-tat killing between the power militaries

3:19

was stepping up in intensity, but something new

3:21

and dangerous was starting.

3:23

Loyalist and Republican power militaries are natural

3:26

enemies,

3:27

but as 1992 moved into 1993, there was a particular loathing between

3:30

two sets of

3:32

men,

3:33

the UDA of Shankill and the Provisionals

3:35

of the Ardoyne.

3:37

This had now erupted into a deadly feud and

3:40

seemed like a personal vendetta. When

3:42

the men would cross paths with one another in a civilian setting,

3:45

for example while out shopping with their wives, would

3:48

hurl insults at one another, and

3:50

there is at least one instance of one mocking the other's

3:52

dead power military friend.

3:55

It's believed that this feud was because of the nature

3:57

of the two commanders.

3:59

The UDA Johnny Adair and the provisional

4:01

IRA Eddie Bubbles Copeland.

4:04

Copeland was, like McKeek, a very

4:07

hard and fierce IRA man. His

4:09

father was gunned down by British soldiers and

4:11

he grew up in a provisional area.

4:13

Both Copeland and Adair had a profound desire

4:16

to see the other dead, yet throughout 1992

4:19

the only people who seemed to be getting killed were ordinary

4:21

civilians. One

4:23

RUC man stated that Copeland had sent multiple

4:26

IRA teams to kill Adair, but Johnny

4:28

always managed to escape,

4:30

even when one IRA man opened fire on him while

4:32

he was in his car.

4:34

This RUC member stated that both men, by 1993, had

4:36

lost count of how many

4:38

times they had tried to have the other killed. There

4:42

was another man within the ranks of the Belfast brigade that

4:44

had become obsessed with Adair, and this

4:46

was Brian Gillan. Like Copeland,

4:49

Gillan was an extremely dangerous and tough man, a few

4:51

words.

4:52

There is an instance where one journalist approached Gillan

4:54

and asked him what he did for a living. He

4:56

stared at the journalist and said, I

4:58

make car parks.

5:01

This was a tongue in cheek reference to car parks being made

5:03

after a building was flattened in a bam.

5:06

This feud between the two groups was one of the fundamental

5:08

reasons Sea Company was so active. Strangely

5:13

enough, the author of this episode can find no

5:15

record of an attempt on McKeek's life, which

5:18

is bizarre as he was a central figure to

5:20

the Sea Company brigade. On

5:23

24th March 1993, Peter Gallagher,

5:25

a Sinn Féin supporter, was arriving to work at a building

5:28

yard in West Belfast. Unbeknownst

5:30

to him, McKeek was crouched in the bushes outside

5:32

the work yard. McKeek pulled out a 9mm

5:35

pistol and gunned down the young father of six.

5:38

He then jumped on a pedal bike and cycled away from

5:40

the scene,

5:41

disposing of his gun on the way to Chankille. Once

5:44

again, this inspired admiration from his colleagues,

5:46

because he left the crime scene in such a brazen manner.

5:50

Twenty-four hours later, as the family of Peter Gallagher

5:52

were in a stunned silence and grief of their loss,

5:55

17-year-old Damian Walsh was working in a fuel

5:58

supply store on the outskirts of West Belfast.

5:59

when McKeek would strike again.

6:02

He and another gunman crept up behind the teenager

6:05

and pulled the trigger.

6:07

This one wasn't as smooth as McKeek's previous

6:09

ones. According to several witnesses,

6:12

the gun at one point jammed, and Damien

6:14

began to run.

6:15

The gun then unclogged and Damien was struck down

6:17

after being hit several times.

6:19

One witness who was working at the fuel shop claimed that the

6:21

gunman then tried to kill him,

6:23

but the gun once again malfunctioned. The

6:25

two gunmen then turned around and ran to a waiting

6:28

car.

6:29

Damien Walsh's mother Miriam gave a passionate

6:31

response to her son's killing,

6:33

saying quote,

6:34

he was a typical wee lad,

6:36

all he wanted to do was enjoy himself. The

6:39

second gunman and the backup to McKeek claimed

6:41

in an interview with David Lister that Walsh's

6:44

name had been selected from a list of IRA suspects

6:46

that had been passed on to members of Sea Company.

6:49

The information on this list consisted of Walsh's

6:51

date of birth and address.

6:53

It was then claimed that he was a member of the IRA and

6:56

was part of an active service unit. To

6:59

give strength to this assertion, it was highlighted

7:01

how the RUC had found more than five tonnes

7:03

of fertilizer at the scene.

7:06

In addition to this, the backup gunman who

7:08

named himself as Pete claimed that the intelligence

7:10

that they had in targeting Walsh had

7:13

been analysed all night, 24 hours

7:15

before the killing.

7:16

Pete then talked about the direct aftermath of

7:18

the killing,

7:19

in which he asked is it a hit or is it a hit, and

7:22

McKeek shouted back at him, aye it's a hit

7:24

drive.

7:25

Pete then said they sped off from the scene, playing

7:28

loud rave music.

7:30

He said, if you get somebody and they go down,

7:32

you're elated and you're on a high.

7:35

If you believe in what you're doing and

7:37

that those bastards are killers, then

7:39

you're on a high.

7:41

McKeek was now becoming idolised on the Shank Hill

7:44

as a man who would literally rise from his bed or walk away

7:46

from a bar and go deep into enemy territory

7:48

and kill.

7:51

Only two months later, McKeek and another gunman

7:53

stepped out of a stolen Ford Orion with automatic

7:55

rifles and gunned down former Republican prisoner

7:57

Alan Lundy,

7:58

who was on the porch of Irish palimps.

7:59

politician, Alex Maskey's house.

8:03

We can only guess that Maskey was the original target, but

8:06

Lundy was, like so many others, in the wrong

8:08

place at the wrong time.

8:10

As Lundy fell to the floor, another gunman, either

8:12

McKeeg or the other, ran into the home to find

8:15

Maskey, but this proved fruitless,

8:17

as Maskey was hiding in the bathroom.

8:19

Both gunmen then fled. This

8:22

hit was celebrated by loyalists because they felt

8:24

like they had gone into a Provo stronghold of

8:26

Gartree and gunned down an IRA man

8:29

and came very close to killing a well-known loyalist

8:32

hate figure.

8:35

During this period, men of C Company found themselves

8:37

busier than ever,

8:38

as McKeeg's reputation continued to grow.

8:41

After the Lundy murder, the UDA, using

8:44

its satellite name the UFF, stated

8:46

that they intended to kill a prominent Sinn Féin

8:48

counsellor.

8:50

At this point, they were determined not to be left out

8:52

in the cold by the talks going on between

8:54

the SDLP's John Hume and Jerry

8:56

Adams,

8:57

who, a week before the Lundy murder, had

8:59

agreed on several factors that could lead to

9:01

a ceasefire. One

9:04

of those critical factors between Hume and Adams was

9:06

that the Irish people had a right to national self-determination.

9:10

To the loyalists, this was the final proof of

9:12

their ancient suspicion that they would be

9:14

betrayed by all parties, including Downing

9:16

Street.

9:17

In the psyche of the loyalists' mind, the

9:19

talks between Hume and Adams were confirmation

9:22

that the Pan-Nationalist front had something

9:24

going on up their sleeve.

9:27

Under Adair's command, McKeeg and his C

9:29

Company in that summer of 1993 were going out of their way

9:32

to launch attacks against the nationalist community

9:34

and politicians.

9:37

There was a grenade attack on the home of Sinn Féin counsellor

9:40

Jared McGuigan on 17th May,

9:42

then the Sinn Féin advice centre in the new Lagerie

9:44

of North Belfast was fired upon by loyalist

9:47

Jamie Hill. The intended targets

9:49

were Bobby Lagerie and Dennis O'Hagan, however

9:51

this attempted hit didn't go to plan.

9:54

Unbeknownst to Jamie Hill, a British soldier

9:56

was standing atop an observation post and

9:58

witnessed the attack. The soldier

10:00

then shouldered his rifle, looked down his scope,

10:03

and fired off multiple rounds hitting Jamie

10:05

Hill and his brother,

10:06

as they attempted to drive away.

10:09

They then discovered the wounded Jamie in an alleyway

10:11

lying in a pool of blood, while his brother was found

10:13

hiding in a house.

10:15

Both men were sentenced to 16 years

10:17

each for their role in this attack.

10:20

However, Sea Company were not deterred by this

10:22

failure.

10:24

On the 8th of June, Jerry Adams had his home attacked

10:26

by a grenade, as loyalists were stepping up their

10:28

gun attacks across the city.

10:31

Many in Sea Company were now being startled by

10:33

the sheer

10:33

intensity of their campaign against the

10:35

PNF.

10:37

One Sea Company man speaking anonymously

10:39

to David Lister said, quote,

10:42

It was relentless,

10:43

and we thought that it was the only thing that was going to prevent

10:46

Protestants getting slotted.

10:48

This man said that for the first time they were having a real

10:50

psychological effect on the provisional IRA,

10:53

and that many of them were now sleeping in safe houses and

10:56

putting their couches up behind the door.

10:58

And it was Stephen Tapgun McKeague who

11:00

was at the centre of this chaos. On

11:04

the 8th of August, at 9pm, McKeague

11:06

and another gunman were outside the home of Sinn Fein

11:08

counsellor Bobby Laverie,

11:10

who had already suffered at the hands of loyalists

11:12

when his brother was killed by the UVF.

11:15

Bobby had been the victim of multiple attempts on his

11:17

life,

11:17

and tonight there would be another one.

11:20

But on this night it would be his 21-year-old son,

11:23

Sean Laverie, who would be killed in a

11:25

hail of gunfire as McKeague and another man

11:27

fired over 20 rounds into his home.

11:31

Bobby would later say of this murder that the UDA

11:33

was trying to wipe his entire family out.

11:36

Stephen McKeague was now it seemed to those around

11:38

him on an unstoppable rampage, and

11:41

with each hit his reputation grew and grew.

11:44

By this point in his life he was now considered

11:48

He was as feared as he was respected, and

11:50

the killings seemed to, at least on the surface,

11:52

have no effect on him. But

11:54

he was changing. He

11:56

was now fanatical about lifting weights.

11:58

He had acquired some peculiar habits, such as the

11:59

as keeping exotic animals, snakes

12:02

and reptiles, and at one point he had a fierce

12:04

argument with his girlfriend Tracy because he wanted a

12:06

monkey.

12:08

He was now a father of four to four different women,

12:10

and in a fashion that many people would call bizarre,

12:13

both of his boys were called Stephen, and both

12:15

of his daughters were called Stephanie.

12:17

He was often in that year racing around the Shankill

12:19

on his motorcycle,

12:21

or behind a set of decks playing trance and rave

12:23

music.

12:25

Three weeks after the attempted assassination of Bobby

12:27

Laverie, McKeeg killed Maria Teresa

12:29

Dowds de Mulligan.

12:31

She was in the kitchen of her home when according to

12:33

multiple sources, McKeeg raised a rifle,

12:36

firing through the small window and shooting her

12:38

in the head and neck.

12:39

She died instantly. Strangely

12:42

enough, the UDA were silent in the wake of this hit, as

12:45

nobody seemed willing to come forward to claim it,

12:47

but it was only under the duress of a dare that the UDA,

12:50

once again using the satellite name the UFF, claimed

12:53

that the real target had been Marie's husband, Maximo,

12:56

and they regretted the night's tragic events.

13:00

This regret didn't stop them, though,

13:01

and on the 7th of September, McKeeg, with another

13:03

man, walked into the John David Hare salon,

13:06

wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap. He

13:08

pointed his pistol at the man behind the desk and fired

13:11

several shots into him.

13:13

And as the man lay on the floor, McKeeg stood over

13:15

him and fired more rounds into his head.

13:19

The man killed was 40-year-old Sean Hughes, who

13:21

had owned the salon for nearly 20 years. But

13:24

he wasn't the man they were meant to kill.

13:27

Sean Hughes was the wrong target, as the original

13:30

target was an INLA man called Frankie

13:32

Lanigan.

13:34

In the direct aftermath of this shooting, McKeeg then

13:36

walked out of the salon, laughing and turned

13:38

to a woman who was sobbing outside on the pavement. He

13:41

went right into her face and burst out into

13:43

song.

13:44

Follow the yellow brick road. He then

13:46

walked into his car with his fellow hitman, laughing.

13:49

The yellow brick road was McKeeg's nickname for Lanark

13:51

Way,

13:52

which was a street which linked Shank Hill and Springfield

13:54

roads.

13:57

McKeeg, a former C company man and friend of McKeeg's, was

13:59

a former C company man.

13:59

said. Quote.

14:02

She was screaming hysterical in the street

14:04

and he was just singing in her face.

14:06

It was the middle of the afternoon and the place was packed.

14:09

But that was Stevie. He was just totally focused.

14:14

McKeeg's attacks were recognised at an

14:16

awards ceremony which was usually held in a pub

14:18

called the Berlin Arms on the Shankill Road,

14:20

but which had now been moved to the Diamond Jubilee Bar

14:23

and one peculiar thing happened there in mid-1993.

14:27

Everyone was expecting an ordinary night when

14:29

the doors to the bar flew open and four masked

14:32

men came in carrying AKs and

14:34

light machine gun with a belt of bullets attached

14:37

and the other two men carrying Israeli Uzis.

14:39

It was Johnny Adair.

14:41

Everyone in the room was silent as Adair walked through the

14:43

crowd and onto the stage in the pub to give out

14:45

seven plaques for the men who carried out operations

14:48

and Steven McKeeg was called up to the stage amidst

14:51

cheers from C company men for his role.

14:55

It was there Adair gave him the award

14:57

of Top Gun

14:58

for essentially committing the most brutal killings

15:01

that year.

15:03

According to one source, Stevie

15:05

would always get the Top Gun award.

15:08

Hence with his award, McKeeg's nickname

15:10

was now cemented and the title would follow him

15:12

everywhere he went.

15:15

This event, which one newspaper called the Macab

15:18

Ghoulish Oscars,

15:19

soon became a smooth running affair with a buffet,

15:22

music, drinks and prizes to be gifted

15:24

out

15:24

whilst Tina Turner's Simply the Best would

15:26

blast out over the speakers.

15:28

And despite the change in procedure, if one

15:31

thing was to stay the same, it would be that McKeeg

15:33

would win the award Top Gun for which his

15:35

friends would cheer.

15:36

But this wouldn't last.

15:39

As the bloody year of 1993 was drawing to a close,

15:42

McKeeg was the new commander of his unit and

15:44

one of his last targets of the year was 23-year-old

15:46

Paddy McMahon.

15:48

It is alleged that Paddy McMahon was gunned

15:50

down in a hail of bullets in front of his girlfriend

15:52

and child and McKeeg was the man who was pulling the trigger.

15:56

He then escaped by climbing down a drain pipe and

15:58

then moving on foot to the Loyalist Tiger.

15:59

Bay. As 1993

16:03

was drawing to a close, Sea Company and the UDA

16:05

as a whole had done something that they hadn't done before.

16:09

They had at this point begun to outkill the IRA,

16:12

but the provisional IRA weren't sitting idle,

16:15

and the feud that whirled around McKeeke between

16:17

the men of Ardoyne and the men of Shankill would

16:19

reach an awful crescendo when on the 23rd

16:21

of October that year, two Ardoyne

16:24

IRA members, Thomas Begley and

16:26

Sean Kelly,

16:27

walked into Friselles Fish Shop, which

16:29

lay underneath the UDA Command Centre. Whilst

16:32

Kelly held up the chip shop, Begley's explosive

16:35

device detonated prematurely,

16:37

and an enormous explosion ripped through the Shankill

16:39

Road.

16:40

The blast was so powerful that the entire building was turned

16:43

into rubble.

16:44

Nine people were killed, including the two bombers,

16:47

either by the force of the explosion or the collapse of the

16:49

building.

16:51

Friselles Fish Shop was chosen by the Ardoyne

16:54

Brigade of the IRA

16:55

because the UDA Command Centre was above the Fish

16:57

Shop, and blowing it up would be seen as

16:59

a decapitation of the UDA leadership.

17:03

However, as fate would have it, Adair

17:05

and his close associates had left the UDA Command

17:07

Centre earlier that morning via the back entrance.

17:11

The response to this bombing was shock and condemnation.

17:14

It was horrifyingly clear that the Ardoyne

17:16

IRA had not cut the head off the UDA leadership, but

17:18

that they had just slaughtered ordinary people who

17:20

were wanting to get food and do some shopping.

17:25

Several hours after the bombing, the UDA issued

17:27

this ominous warning.

17:30

From 6pm, all brigade active service

17:32

units of the UFF across Ulster will

17:34

be mobilised.

17:35

John Hume, Jerry Adams and the Nationalist Electorate

17:38

will pay a heavy, heavy price for today's

17:40

atrocity,

17:41

which was signed, sealed and delivered by

17:43

the cutting edge of the Pan-Nationalist Front.

17:46

To the perpetrators of this atrocity,

17:48

you will have no hiding place,

17:50

time is on our side,

17:52

and to John Hume we ask,

17:54

is this your peace?

17:57

been

18:00

happening in the late 70s and early 80s, was

18:02

resurging in 1993. According

18:06

to various sources, Adair with McKee at his

18:08

side went on a mission for a bloody reprisal.

18:11

There was even talk of slaughtering Catholics

18:13

as they left the church after mass, but

18:15

this was then abandoned when they realised that it would be a disastrous

18:18

PR move.

18:20

So they put their plans into motion to move against the

18:22

nationalist community.

18:24

Revenge was swift as the UDA and

18:26

UVF went on a wave of killings, yet

18:28

the final act of revenge would come on the night of the 30th

18:30

of October when people were drinking in the Rising

18:33

Sun bar in the quiet village of Greysteel,

18:35

which lay close to the shore of the Loch Foyle.

18:38

People were laughing and joking when two men

18:40

walked into the bar and shouted, trick or treat

18:43

before opening fire on the revellers with an AK-47

18:46

and an automatic pistol.

18:49

After three minutes, the men withdrew to a getaway

18:51

car and drove away into the night,

18:54

leaving behind them a room clouded in gun smoke

18:56

with bodies strewn everywhere. This

18:59

would go on to be called the Greysteel Massacre and

19:02

would claim the lives of 8 people,

19:04

6 Catholics and 2 Protestants.

19:08

Just a quick note to say that if you are enjoying this podcast

19:11

and want to support it, you can do so over at patreon.com

19:14

forward slash the troubles podcast.

19:16

I've been filling up the private Patreon feed for over 3

19:19

years now and have a huge amount of Patreon

19:21

exclusive content for you to check out. Each

19:24

episode gets its own companion video where I talk

19:26

about what's happening in Northern Ireland right now as

19:28

well as some additional details that came up after

19:30

the release of the episode. I

19:33

also have some Patreon only episodes such

19:35

as one all about the troubles in popular culture and

19:37

the songs that came out of that period. And

19:40

just last week I released a Patreon exclusive

19:42

interview with Kevin Owens, who was in the Irish

19:44

Army patrolling the Irish border in the 90s

19:47

and he had some very interesting stories to tell. If

19:50

you have been enjoying this podcast over the last few seasons

19:52

and would like to help me turn this into a full time

19:54

job, you can do so over at

19:57

patreon.com forward slash the troubles

19:59

podcast.

20:00

Thank you.

20:21

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20:30

terms and conditions apply. See what's every detail. Leftovers.

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end when he was arrested in connection with

22:02

the murder of Sean Hughes.

22:04

By November, McKeague was one of the most feared

22:06

and prolific killers to ever come from the ranks of loyalism.

22:09

His

22:09

friend Peter said, quote,

22:12

you can put Stevie down for about 14 hits.

22:15

It became common knowledge how many hits people had

22:17

done. People get associated with numbers

22:20

rather than operations, and everyone knew Stevie

22:22

did 14. He set the standard.

22:26

As McKeague went to jail, the title of C Company

22:29

commander passed on to Gary Smickers Smith.

22:32

So what after this?

22:34

Well, the UDA, after the carnage of 1992 and 1993,

22:38

along with the UVF, entered an uncertain

22:40

cold ceasefire with the IRA.

22:43

The two didn't like and they didn't trust each other, but

22:46

for now they would try and stop slaughtering each

22:48

other.

22:50

But before this ceasefire took effect, the

22:52

Provisionals once again displayed the famous

22:55

treat of not letting anything go unpunished.

22:58

On the 31st of July 1994, UDA commanders

23:01

Joe Bratty and

23:03

Raymond Elder, who had helped orchestrate the

23:05

Sean Graham's betting shop massacre, were drinking

23:07

in a loyalist band hall when they finished their drinks

23:09

and headed outside.

23:11

Unbeknownst to them, several Provisional

23:13

IRA members were waiting behind a van ready to

23:15

settle a very old and very bloody score.

23:18

When Bratty and Elder emerged in the streets, they

23:20

were greeted with the sight of several gunmen,

23:23

all wearing white boiler suits and black ski

23:25

masks,

23:26

armed with rifles and pistols.

23:28

Both Bratty and Elder were riddled with bullets,

23:31

and the noise of it made everyone pause in the surrounding streets.

23:34

To leave nothing to doubt, the gunmen then stepped forward

23:37

and emptied their magazines into both men.

23:40

The news of the death of Bratty and Elder was greeted

23:43

with a sigh of relief by many Catholics of South

23:45

Belfast,

23:46

even though they were against the armed violence of

23:48

the Provisionals.

23:50

Both men had terrorised the community and

23:53

had a profound hate of Catholics.

23:55

Bratty even had a tattoo of the KKK

23:57

on his hand.

23:59

There have even been unsubstantiated rumours that

24:02

some members of the Loyist community felt mild relief

24:04

as well,

24:05

due to both men being feared and posing

24:07

a danger to their own.

24:10

On August 4th, the Belfast Brigade of the Provisionals

24:13

would say in a scathing issue of Unpublokt,

24:15

quote,

24:17

Volunteers under our command executed Joe

24:19

Bratty and Raymond Elder in a carefully planned

24:21

operation last Sunday evening, 31st

24:23

of July.

24:25

Bratty was the UDA's commanding officer and also

24:27

member of the UDA Inner Council.

24:30

Both Bratty and Elder planned and controlled the

24:32

murder of a large number of nationalists in the Ormeo

24:34

Road and surrounding.

24:36

Then a month to the day after this killing, the

24:38

ceasefire of 1994 began.

24:41

All the while, McKeeg remained in prison,

24:43

and in his research for this episode, the author

24:46

has found very few details of McKeeg's

24:48

time spent there.

24:50

But when he was finally released from prison in 1997, things began to unravel.

24:54

He resumed once again his position as military

24:57

commander of Sea Company,

24:58

but then two things happened.

25:00

The first was the murder of Billy Wright in the Mayes prison

25:03

at the hands of the INLA.

25:05

According to Henry Macdonald in Deadly Enemies, McKeeg,

25:08

upon hearing of the death of Billy Wright, went berserk

25:11

and began to openly call for immediate revenge.

25:15

He then went out and carried out what many believe

25:17

was his final hit.

25:19

Four days after Billy Wright had been murdered, McKeeg

25:22

and another backup gunman strode up to the

25:24

Clifton Tavern which lay on the Belfast-Cliftonville

25:27

Road,

25:28

and McKeeg shouted, Alright lads, and

25:31

opened fire on the patrons and doormens stood outside

25:33

with an oozy.

25:35

Edmund Trainor, a 31-year-old Catholic

25:37

civil servant, was killed instantly, and

25:39

seven others were wounded.

25:41

McKeeg and the other gunman then fled in a hijacked

25:44

car.

25:45

This killing was not warmly received by all

25:47

factions of loyalism,

25:49

so much so that the Loyalist Military Command

25:51

and other brigadiers pulled McKeeg in

25:53

for questioning and had words with him for jeopardising

25:56

the ceasefire.

25:58

According to one witness, McKeeg,

25:59

McKeig remained unflappable, and sternly

26:02

told the men in the room that he was acting within the

26:04

rules of Loïc's protocol,

26:06

and that Loïc had the right to retaliate.

26:09

His reputation was so significant that

26:11

many of the senior commanders essentially

26:13

backed down, and McKeig walked away

26:15

unperturbed.

26:18

The next significant incident in McKeig's life

26:21

would be his first step towards his demise.

26:23

It was well known that he loved motorcycles, and

26:25

one day in early June 1998 he was racing through

26:28

the streets of Belfast when he collided with a car.

26:31

The crash was described as devastating, and

26:34

it was a medical marvel that McKeig wasn't killed

26:36

outright.

26:37

In a bitter twist of irony, the car that was written off

26:40

had been driven by a UVF man.

26:43

This was a crippling blow to McKeig who spent weeks

26:45

bedbound receiving round-the-clock care, suffering

26:48

multiple broken bones, a punctured lung,

26:50

and ruptured organs. According to one

26:52

source, when he woke and couldn't speak, the

26:54

first thing he did was ask for a pen, and he wrote,

26:57

up the UDA.

26:59

The effect this crash had on him was profound.

27:02

He was, in the eyes of some of his colleagues, a shadow

27:04

of his former self,

27:06

suffering excruciating pain and being

27:08

rendered immobile,

27:10

and some joked that now he was the bionic man.

27:13

However, brevity aside,

27:15

many were startled at the difference in the man,

27:17

who only six years prior was riding up and

27:19

down the Shankill Road, dangerous, muscular,

27:22

and confident. But

27:24

now it was different.

27:27

As the years passed, McKeig became heavily

27:29

reliant upon powerful opioids to manage

27:31

his pain.

27:34

But there was another change. The phenomena of

27:36

cocaine and drug dealing were at this point of the

27:38

decade still a new novelty.

27:40

However, according to David Lister and Hugh

27:42

Jordan's Mad Dog,

27:43

McKeig was now Chief Sea Company Dealer,

27:46

and unable to, as he once had, leap out

27:48

and kill upon his request, he threw his caution

27:50

at the wind and began to use cocaine heavily.

27:53

His

27:54

involvement in the procuring and distribution

27:56

of drugs was evident in his extravagant

27:58

purchases that he made.

30:00

A few days after this, McKeeg then

30:02

would be embroiled as he went to a woman's defence

30:04

while drinking in a loyalist bar, which resulted

30:07

in a brawl. His

30:09

popularity amongst some of the UDA men

30:11

certainly was waning.

30:13

Then, in a final humiliating blow, a

30:16

short time later, UDA men went around

30:18

McKeeg and dragged him out onto the green

30:20

of Florence Court, where he was subjected to

30:22

a vicious beating. Then

30:24

in early 2000, he was ordered to leave

30:26

the Shankill by a dare.

30:29

This had a devastating effect on McKeeg, as

30:31

he allegedly went to one friend pleading with him to

30:33

speak to the wee fella,

30:35

speaking of a dare.

30:36

McKeeg was now an outsider and an outcast, spending

30:39

most of his days in a girlfriend's flat or in

30:41

his caravan. By

30:43

the summer of 2000 it seemed that his luck had begun to

30:45

turn, and against all lads he'd been

30:47

asked to come back to the Shankill by a dare.

30:50

This wasn't a gesture of reconciliation, as

30:52

a dare's at sea company was now locked in a deadly

30:54

feud with the UVF, and a dare would need

30:57

all the help he could get.

30:59

McKeeg then informed them that he would not partake

31:01

in any feud and he would not use a gun to kill

31:04

other loyalists.

31:06

And so, being no use to them, he was relocated

31:08

back to Florence Court.

31:11

Steve Top Gun McKeeg died in his

31:14

home on the 24th of September 2000.

31:17

He was found wearing boxer shorts, face down,

31:19

with his body covered in bruises. A

31:22

bath was running and a crossbow bolt was lodged

31:24

in a wall.

31:26

Mystery and intrigue surround his death, as

31:28

some have claimed that he was beaten to death and had

31:30

a lethal dose of cocaine forced down his throat.

31:33

Others think that his body had simply succumbed

31:35

to the deadly cocktail of drugs, opioids

31:38

and cocaine

31:39

that Taxcology reports showed.

31:42

McKeeg is remembered and indeed idolised

31:44

in loyalist myth,

31:45

and he even has his own mural on display

31:48

on the side of a home on the Shankill Road in Belfast.

31:51

One loyalist called him their own Indiana

31:53

Jones.

31:54

Damien Walsh's mother claimed that her son was

31:56

stolen from her by McKeeg.

31:59

have stated that McKeeg's violence may

32:02

have been able to be stopped years before his

32:04

death. As

32:05

a report into his death highlighted

32:08

an exhaustive catalogue of RUC

32:10

and British intelligence failings,

32:12

raising the ugly spectre of collusion once more.

32:15

Whatever the case, to those who have listened to this

32:18

episode, and all the horror and grief it

32:20

entails,

32:21

we have to make sure that whether loyalist or nationalist,

32:24

that the dark days of the 90s will always

32:26

remain solely in our history books, and

32:28

are never again realities. That's

32:31

it from me.

32:33

Thanks and see you next time.

32:52

This episode was written by John Livingstone.

32:55

Johnny has a master's degree in international and

32:57

has been studying the troubles for 10 years.

32:59

If you want to read more of his writing, you can do so over

33:02

at the troubles archive

33:03

on Instagram.