Adair 'harassed ex-UDA members'

Johnny Adair spent 39 days in jail on remand

Former Loyalist terrorist leader Johnny Adair has been given a restraining order after he admitted harassment.

Adair, 41, and William Woods, 37, pleaded guilty at Bolton Magistrates' Court to harassing two former members of their gang between April and August.

The court was told they had threatened violence against fellow former Ulster Defence Association (UDA) members Stephen McQuaid and Kerry Thompson.

All four fled to Bolton from Northern Ireland following an internal UDA feud.

Stephen Sargent, prosecuting, said Mr McQuaid and his partner Miss Thompson had wanted to move on from their UDA past.

[Adair's] only objective in coming to Bolton is coming to spend quality time with his family that has been lacking in the past Andrew Costello, defending

He said: "It seems to me that these people fell into two categories.

"There were those who, in a different environment, have seized the opportunity to start a new life and put the past behind them, and there are those who are trying to keep to the ethos that the others left behind in Belfast, and that has led to friction.

"It has led to the harassment of those who want to distance themselves from their former life."

Police warned Adair on 29 April after Miss Thompson reported him for driving slowly past her while she pushed her baby in a buggy along the road and grinning falsely at her.

She was worried Adair, of Chorley New Road, Bolton, had discovered where she lived, the court heard.

Grabbed cricket bat

On 15 August, Woods, of Halliwell Road, Bolton, shouted abuse at Mr McQuaid and then followed him into a laundrette and punched him in the back of the head, as Mr McQuaid's six-year-old son looked on.

Later the same day, Adair and Woods went to their victims' home and threatened them.

Mr McQuaid grabbed a cricket bat but police arrived before the situation could escalate.

The next day, Adair and Woods, along with a gang of men, returned to the house and Woods threatened to kill Mr McQuaid.

Andrew Costello, defending, said the incidents were idle threats and Mr McQuaid and Miss Thompson had participated in the feud.

He added that Adair was trying to put his past behind him, saying: "His only objective in coming to Bolton is coming to spend quality time with his family that has been lacking in the past."

Adair and Woods were each sentenced to 39 days in prison but were released as they had already served that time on remand.

Both men were ordered to pay £150 costs.