Johnny Adair
| Johnny Adair | |
|---|---|
A photograph of Adair in front of a UDA mural in Belfast
|
|
| Born |
Jonathan Adair 27 October 1963 Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Residence | Troon, Scotland |
| Nationality | British |
| Other names | "Mad Dog" |
| Known for | Ulster loyalism |
| Height | 5 ft 3 in (160 cm) |
| Spouse(s) | Gina Crossan (1997–2003; divorced) |
| Partner(s) | Lynne Benson (2003–present) |
| Children | 5 |
| Military career | |
| Service/branch |
 UDA
|
| Years of service | 1984–2003 |
| Rank | Brigadier |
| Unit | C Company, 2nd Battalion Shankill Road, West Belfast Brigade |
| Conflicts | The Troubles |
Jonathan Adair, better known as Johnny Adair or Mad Dog Adair (born 27 October 1963) was an Ulster loyalist and the former leader of the "C Company", 2nd Battalion Shankill Road, West Belfast Brigade of the "Ulster Freedom Fighters" (UFF). This was a cover name used by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), a loyalist paramilitary organisation. In 2002 Adair was expelled from the organisation following a violent internal power struggle. Since 2003, he, his family and a number of supporters have been forced to leave Northern Ireland by the mainstream UDA.
Adair was born into an Ulster Protestant loyalist family and raised in Belfast. He grew up on the Old Lodge Road, a now mostly demolished road linking the lower Shankill Road to the lower Oldpark area, a site of many sectarian clashes and riots during the Troubles. The son of Jimmy and Mabel Adair, he was the youngest of their seven children, his siblings being (in age order) Margaret, Mabel, Jean, Etta, Lizzie and Archie, who was later also a UDA member.
Adair's father, Jimmy, had no involvement in loyalist activities and maintained close friendships with a number of nationalists in the New Lodge area, where he was a member of the local homing pigeon society. Jimmy continued his membership even after his son had emerged as a leading loyalist paramilitary. According to Ian S. Wood, Adair had little parental supervision and did not attend school regularly. However Hugh Jordan and David Lister insist that the Adairs were attentive and fairly strict parents who sent their children to Sunday school. As a child, Adair attended Hemsworth Primary School close to his Old Lodge Road home, where he was noted as an unremarkable student.
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