Jackie Thompson
Jackie Thompson | |
---|---|
Birth name | John Thompson |
Nickname(s) | Fat Jackie |
Born | Belfast, Northern Ireland | 13 November 1963
Allegiance | Ulster Defence Association |
Rank | Brigadier |
Unit | C Company, West Belfast Brigade |
Conflict | The Troubles |
John Albert Thompson (born 13 November 1963[1]), commonly known as Fat Jackie, is a Belfast-born Northern Irish loyalist activist who was a senior member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). Thompson was close to Johnny Adair during Adair's time as leader of the UDA West Belfast Brigade and remained one of the last of the "C Company" members to support Adair. Thompson was briefly brigadier in West Belfast in 2003 between Adair's imprisonment and his fall.[2]
Early years
A native of Snugville Street in the middle section of the
Having become involved in anti-social behaviour the gang, as a unit (by that point around twelve or so members), were co-opted into the local UDA and Thompson and the others were sworn in as members of the West Belfast Brigade's C Company at a ceremony in the Langley Social Club on the Shankill's Tennent Street in 1984. They were assigned to C8, a unit of the company.[4] In their early years of membership the gang had little activity of note. A typical incident occurred in 1985 when Thompson, Adair, Hodgen and McCrory were sent to the Pork Produce factory on the nearby Hillview Road to burn their fleet of vans as the local UDA leadership objected to the number of Catholics employed by the company.[5]
Activity with C8
C8 soon became known as one of the most active units in the company, gaining a reputation for being home to a coterie of young hot bloods who were eager to kill. According to David Lister and Hugh Jordan, Thompson played a central role in the killing of Catholic civilian Eamon Quinn in February 1990. They state that Thompson had fired the initial shots that wounded Quinn before Ken Barrett shot the injured man in the head and stomach, killing him. This was Thompson's first hit, according to the authors.[6] He would soon develop a reputation as a skilled marksman amongst fellow C Company members.[7]
On 31 July 1990 several members of C Company drove up Lanark Way, which links the Shankill to the
In July 1992 Thompson was despatched along with McCrory, Tommy Potts and Matthew McCormick as a C Company hit team with the aim of killing Provisional Irish Republican Army commanders Brian Gillen and Martin Lynch in their Andersonstown stronghold. However the security forces had prior intelligence that the attack was due to take place and set up a joint British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary ambush in nearby Finaghy Road North. Thompson and his fellow volunteers came under heavy gunfire before being apprehended. All four men faced prison sentences following the operation.[10] Thompson pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to murder and was sentenced to 16 years in prison.[11] His role as leading hitman in C Company was filled by Stephen McKeag.[12]
Rise in UDA
Thompson was held in
Thompson remained close to Adair who gave him the title of "Provost Marshal", a role which effectively gave him control over knee-cappings and other acts of
As an all-out war with the rest of the UDA loomed, Johnny Adair was returned to prison on 10 January 2003 and he appointed Thompson as brigadier in his stead.
Life in Britain
Thompson was detained by police at Cairnryan for a while after he was found to be in possession of £7,000 in cash, the takings from a sandwich shop he had just opened with Millar and the contents of a slot machine in the "Big Brother House", a community centre used by Adair and C Company as a base.[21] Eventually released, he made his way to Bolton where Adair had connections with local Combat 18 activists.[22] With the West Belfast Brigade having been brought back into the UDA fold Mo Courtney was confirmed as Thompson's successor as Brigadier.[23]
In December 2003 Thompson was targeted by a car bomb and, although the detonator went off as he drove away from his home, the bomb placed under the driver's seat failed to explode and he survived the attack.[24] Stanley Curry of Yardley, who was said to belong to the "Ulster Freedom Fighters West Midlands and Midlands Brigade" was charged with the attack soon afterwards.[25] Curry, a train driver, was given a twenty-year prison sentence for the attempted bombing.[26]
Adair's supporters had a series of quarrels in Bolton and by 2004 Thompson was reported to be working for £8 an hour on a building site in Manchester.[27] By this stage Thompson and "Sham" Millar, who were brothers-in-law, had already quarrelled with Gary "Smickers" Smyth, resulting in their former C Company comrade severing ties to the so-called "Bolton wanderers" and relocating to Scotland.[28] Rumours circulated in 2005 that Thompson and Millar had beaten up Adair in England after a falling out and, whilst Adair denied the rumours, he dismissed the pair as "bullies", suggesting that their friendship was over.[29]
Thompson is married to the daughter of Wendy Millar, founder of the first UDA women's unit on the Shankill Road.[27]
References
Notes
- ^ Full name and date of birth are taken from police mugshots as pictured in David Lister & Hugh Jordan, Mad Dog: The Rise and Fall of Johnny Adair and 'C' Company, Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing, 2004
- ^ a b c Lister & Jordan, p. 28
- ^ Wood, pp. 155–156
- ^ Lister & Jordan, p. 47
- ^ Lister & Jordan, p. 52
- ^ Lister & Jordan, pp. 88–89
- ^ Lister & Jordan, p. 100
- ^ Lister & Jordan, pp. 85–86
- ^ Wood, p. 157
- ^ Wood, pp. 162–163
- ^ Lister & Jordan, p. 128
- ^ Lister & Jordan, p. 133
- ^ Lister & Jordan, p. 243
- ^ Lister & Jordan, pp. 284–285
- ^ Lister & Jordan, p. 311
- ^ Lister & Jordan, pp. 317–319
- ^ Lister & Jordan, p. 323
- ^ a b Lister & Jordan, p. 327
- ^ Lister & Jordan, p. 330
- ^ Johnny Adair and Graham McKendry, Mad Dog, John Blake, 2007, p. 223
- ^ Lister & Jordan, p. 331
- ^ Lister & Jordan, p. 333
- ^ Lister & Jordan, p. 335
- ^ 'Fat Jackie' was 'car bomb' target Archived 21 April 2013 at archive.today, Manchester Evening News, 18 December 2003
- ^ Terrorist WhoLived Next Door[permanent dead link], Birmingham Mail, 30 June 2005
- ^ Terrorist train driver jailed for 20 years, Birmingham Post, 30 June 2005
- ^ Sunday People
- ^ Adair's Man Setting Up Drugs Empire
- ^ "Adair in hiding? 'Mad Dog' denies he got a serious kicking from his erstwhile chums", Sunday Life, 1 May 2005
Bibliography
- Lister, David and Jordan, Hugh. Mad Dog: The Rise and Fall of Johnny Adair and C Company, Mainstream, 2004
- Wood, Ian S., Crimes of Loyalty: A History of the UDA, Edinburgh University Press, 2006