Terror boss Davy ‘Whitecap’ Miller broke the UVF ceasefire last week when he ordered an alleged drug dealer to be shot.
The Sunday World understands the UVF’s commander in Mount Vernon personally ordered a punishment shooting on a man in the north Belfast estate last Tuesday evening.
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Reliable sources in the area claim the victim had a lucky escape after he was forced to the ground by two masked men, only for the gun to jam.
Miller has been creaming thousands of pounds from drug dealers in the estate in recent months. One man claimed the UVF boss demanded £10,000 from him in return for to be allowed to trade without sanction.
Last week’s target was on his way through the estate when he was accosted by the two men.
Sources have told us he was forced to the ground and told he was to be shot in the legs.
The gun jammed twice before the punishment squad panicked and fled the scene.
The Sunday World understands the handgun used had been a re-activated gun, previously decommissioned.
“These guns are notoriously unreliable,” said our source. “Nine times out of ten they jam, if they don’t clear second time round you may forget it.”
There has been little reaction to the shooting which constitutes a breach of the UVF ceasefire.
“The UVF are bringing guns on to the street, Is that not a breach of the ceasefire?”
Miller has come under increasing pressure in the recent weeks. Last month he was detained and questioned by the PSNI in relation to a punishment beating dished out to former UVF comrade Darren Moore.
One time jailbird Moore is believed to have made a statement to cops alleging Miller was involved in the attack which left him with two broken arms and legs.
This latest punishment attack comes as Miller and the UVF in Mount Vernon target drug dealers. Miller himself has developed a major cocaine habit and is regarded by many as being out of control.
His orders to shoot someone will be viewed with alarm by the UVF leadership and it’s not the first time the terror group has used a previously decommissioned weapon.
In October 2000 UDA chief Tommy English was fatally shot at his home in Ballyfore Gardens, on the Ballyduff estate in Newtownabbey by a group of four men.
His three children were inside the house at the time of about 18.30 when the men entered through the back door as his wife, Doreen was preparing food for a Halloween party. She called out to her husband and attempted to close the door but they pushed past her, one of the men shouting “Get out of the f*****g way, Doreen”. The murder was carried out by the UVF at the height of the loyalist feud.
The Sunday World understands the murder weapon was a re-activated pistol, although one of the men was also armed with a shotgun – back up should the pistol fail.
A number of prominent loyalists were charged with the English murder, including one time Mount Vernon commander Mark Haddock. All walked free after the trial collapsed.
Miller, South East Antrim Brigadier Den Elliott and former lifer Billy McCartney from north Belfast were all scooped last month on the word of former pal Moore.
No was charged but the move caused anxiety in loyalist circles.
There has been growing speculation in recent months that former Mount Vernon goon Moore has agreed to become a supergrass, ready to give evidence against his terrorist comrades in return for a new identity and light sentence.
This latest development is being seen as the first step along that road.
Moore was furious at his treatment at the hands of the UVF two years ago. He had been lured to a meeting at the Monkstown club in Glengormley on the pretence of discussing allegations of drug dealing .
Once there he was dragged outside and hammered by five baseball bat wielding thugs. Battered and broken , he was dumped in the grounds of a primary school. The loyalist heavy needed metal pins inserted into his arms and legs. The punishment style attack wasn’t sanctioned by the UVF leadership on the Shankill but despite pleas from Moore the organisation refused to move against their Mount Vernon team.
Miller is believed to have taken in after cops called at his Mount Vernon home.
