Jackie McDonald ordered UDA leadership in Sandy Row to stand down
Tony 'The Gout Lout' Nellons
The UDA leadership on Belfast’s Sandy Row has been stood down.
Terror chief Jackie McDonald has moved against his own command structure after months of feuding and internal wrangling.
The Sunday World can reveal the veteran loyalist issued his decree at a stormy meeting in a south Belfast social club on Wednesday evening.
All members were ordered to attend and according to witnesses a furious McDonald laid down the law, slamming drug dealers and racketeers.
Sandy Row commander Tony ‘Gout Lout’ Nellons is the highest profile casualty after he openly defied McDonald on a number of occasions in recent months and in particular his refusal to force a veteran UDA man and his family out of the area.
McDonald had ordered his expulsion but in open defiance Nellons, once a close McDonald associate, not only refused but assured the intended victim and his family they would be immune from attack.
It was seen as a blatant challenge to McDonald and after months of near reclusive behaviour he has made his move.
Well-placed loyalist sources named and shamed his ‘treacherous’ leadership accusing them of betraying the name of loyalism. He claimed that Nellons and others had let the organisation down and allowed it to become embroiled in the drugs trade and common criminality.
Sandy Row residents have been dogged by increasing levels of anti-social behaviour with much of the blame laid at the door of UDA members.
Drug abuse in the area has soared with the terror group peddling industrial amounts of prescription drugs. UDA members were also blamed for the Ecstasy-type tablets that have caused a series of sudden deaths in recent years.
Earlier this month the Sunday World revealed the crime gang was selling ‘party packs’ of prescription drugs including Diazepam and high grade pain killer Lyrica.
McDonald has been a vocal opponent of the drugs trade, but has turned a blind eye as his organisation raked in a fortune from the narcotics trade. It is understood part of the reason for his night of the long knives was the failure of the Sandy Row unit to pass on their drug money.
But it is Nellons’ refusal to carry out McDonald’s orders that pushed the terror chief over the edge.
There has been simmering discontent within the organisation for a number of years but it was the murder of north Belfast UDA man John Boreland when the rot well and truly set in.
Boreland was shot in the head as he arrived at his home in the Ballysillan area of the city. It is understood the car used by the killers was supplied by elements within south Belfast UDA as was the murder weapon.
The shotgun used was passed to the killer gang by a former member who had been expelled from the group for stealing jewellery from a leading UDA man’s home.
His involvement was enough to buy his way back into the organisation.
McDonald denied any knowledge of south Belfast involvement in the killing but he is known to have offered sanctuary to families forced to quit north Belfast after former Brigadier John Bunting was forced to stand down after he lost control of the unit.
In April we revealed how the south Belfast was riven with division and on the brink of collapse.
The terror group had splintered into a number of rival factions with even trusted commanders refusing to carry out orders.
Residents in Sandy Row have become increasingly concerned at the level of crime in the area particularly with the proliferation of foreign crime gangs.
The Sunday World is aware of the identity of the man McDonald intends putting in place instead of Nellons, he has been linked to an historical murder and his brother was guilty of a sexual assault.
The terror chief’s refusal to move against the perv caused considerable dissension within UDA ranks.
McDonald’s attempt to quell rebellion and unite his organisation is unlikely to succeed. It is understood there are at least three rival factions on Sandy Row and Nellons has made it clear he has no intention of going quietly.
As previously revealed, Nellons ignored a McDonald order to evict a prominent loyalist from Sandy Row.
The well-known figure has defied repeated orders for him to quit the area and now members of McDonald’s own unit are openly refusing to take action against.
The man at the centre of the dispute has been at loggerheads with the organisation for a number of years. His home has been attacked repeatedly and he was lucky to escape with his life after a frenzied knife attack two years ago.
It is understood he is suffering ill-health but that has not prevented the organisation telling him he is no longer welcome on Sandy Row.
He has been under the protection of Nellons and his sidekick Colin ‘Two Faces’ Bingham.
McDonald threatened to send “a team” from the Taughmonagh estate into Sandy Row to carry out the instruction but even that has failed to materialise.
UDA members are now openly speculating on McDonald’s future and this latest move is a deperate attempt by the veteran terror chief to bolster his position.
Sources have told us he has lost the respect of his men.
The mini-mutiny has left him in an awkward position. With government eyes firmly fixed on the loyalist paramilitary groups he cannot be seen to be overseeing a violent revenge campaign while Stormont is prepared to sign multi-million pound cheques for the redevelopment of areas such as Sandy Row and the Village.
The John McMichael Centre on Sandy Row, where McDonald has an office and which is viewed as UDA headquarters, is currently undergoing a £150,000 facelift courtesy of the taxpayer.
richard.sullivan@sundayworld.com