Ambushed loyalist shot in the face

A leading loyalist has been shot and wounded in a murder bid in east Belfast last night.

Jim Gray, who is in his 40s, was shot in the jaw as he got into his car at Glenlea Park, off the Old Holywood Road, at around 10.10pm last night.

The gunman fired a number of shots at Mr Gray's BMW car as he got into it with another man. However, Mr Gray was able to drive off as the gunman chased on foot firing several more shots. No other injuries have been reported.

Mr Gray drove to the safety of the nearby Garnerville police training college, where two officers on duty at the gate offered him first aid. He was taken to Mater hospital for treatment where his condition was described as stable.

As Mr Gray was able to speak to officers immediately after the incident, his injuries are not thought to be too serious.

Jim Gray is a leading member of the loyalist Ulster Defence Association in east Belfast. He is also known to be a close associate of Michael Stone, the man who killed three people at a republican funeral in Milltown Cemetery in 1988.

Police suspect last night's shooting to be the work of another loyalist gang.

Assistant Chief Constable Alan McQuillan said: "Quite clearly within the last two weeks we have seen a series of tensions breaking out and shooting in relation to factions within loyalist groups.

"Quite what the motive of that is I am still not sure but I think we have got to recognise that these are basically Mafia organisations."

He added: "I think the most probable cause of that is quite frankly some sort of sordid drugs war, business interests war between individuals within those groups."

Last night's ambush follows the murder of a top LVF member outside Regent House School in Newtownards on Friday morning. Thirty-seven-year-old Stephen Warnock was in his car outside the school when a motorcycle pulled alongside and a pillion rider fired several times into the car. Mr Warnock's three-year-old daughter who was also in the car at the time was uninjured in the shooting.

Stephen Warnock will be buried at Roselawn Cemetery later today. It is expected that a number of leading loyalists from throughout Northern Ireland will attend the funeral.

(GMcG)