Paramilitary's home auctioned

The home of a leading loyalist paramilitary has been sold for £410,000 at public auction by the Assets Recovery Agency.

The home of a leading loyalist paramilitary has been sold for £410,000 at public auction by the Assets Recovery Agency.

The substantial property, one of eight houses in the desirable north Down area, was owned by Jim Johnston, who was shot dead last year during a fierce loyalist feud. Johnston amassed considerable wealth through drug-dealing until his death. He also owned a holiday home in Co Sligo and a business premises in Belfast.

The auction was the first to be organised by the agency, the Northern equivalent of the Criminal Assets Bureau. It said the proceeds would be ploughed back into crime-fighting and anti-racketeering.

The house was included in a portfolio of assets valued at up to £1.25 million which the agency seized under new powers granted by parliament in 2002.

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The Northern Ireland head of the agency, Mr Alan McQuillan, said: "This auction is a very visible reminder that the extensive powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act are effective in taking the profit out of crime."

The former PSNI assistant chief constable added: "This is the first of what will be a continuous stream of assets taken out of the hands of criminals and used for the benefit of everyone in the community."

Johnston's other properties, including the Co Sligo house, would be sold off in due course and his investment portfolio would be liquidated.

The so-called UDA brigadier for east Belfast, Mr Jim Gray, has received £1,500 in an out-of-court settlement from the PSNI Chief Constable Mr Hugh Orde, according to well-placed sources.

Mr Gray, who survived an assassination attempt in which he was shot in the face during the feud between the Johnny Adair and general leadership factions of the UDA in 2002, took the case against the chief constable over the manner in which he was arrested by PSNI officers in a Chinese restaurant in Belfast two years ago.