£10k HIT: Enemy paid big money to have Jock Davison killed.
Gunned-down ex-Provo boss Gerard ‘Jock’ Davison died with a £10,000 price on his head.
The Sunday World can reveal the man who pulled the trigger on the 47-year-old had been offered a £10k bounty to take down the life-long republican to settle an old score.
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According to reliable republican sources, a long-standing enemy of Jock Davison approached the shooter with a take-it-or-leave it offer several months ago after a heated confrontation with the veteran IRA man.
Well-placed sources say both the suspected hitman and the man who ordered the blood-drenched daylight assassination have had family members murdered by the Provisional IRA.
However, while one of the men involved was consumed with hatred and fuelled by revenge, the other was driven simply by greed.
“There is no way in the world the gunman would have done it without cash being handed over, that’s not his style. He is an absolute flea, one of his family members was shot dead by the IRA but he couldn’t give a shit about that, all he saw was an opportunity to make a few quid and be the one who took out Jock Davison,” said one source.
“Jock had enemies, there were plenty of people out there who had threatened to kill him over the years but all the evidence points to these two guys, one wanted him dead but couldn’t pull the trigger, didn’t have the balls to do it, while the other was happy to do it for the right price.
“The hatred just bubbled over. Add to the fact that Jock had been giving drug dealers well known to both of them a hard time, they thought ‘f*** it, let’s do him’,” the source said. The two men referred to have also been identified as the chief suspects by those close to Davison and who are struggling to come to terms with the brazen attack which many believed could or would never happen.
“Tensions have been high, there is no denying that, how could they not be? People are in shock,” said our source, “the worry is that when the shock turns to anger what happens then? There is always a potential for future violence and by the very nature of the killing that will remain a possibility.
“The immediate aim is to give Jock a good send-off and then look after his loved ones, help them come to terms with their loss. What happens after that nobody knows.”
The Sunday World can reveal that the gun used in the shocking slaying is believed to still be in the Markets area, stashed away during the chaos that followed the murder.
The gunman had previously used the gun, which was bought by criminal elements, to carry out punishment attacks against those who have crossed local drug dealers, however, the murder of Jock Davison is his first kill.
Both of those believed to be involved are from the East Belfast area and have connections to a drug dealing gang that consists of two brothers. They are both regular drug users, the gunman starting when he was just 12.
It is reported that their drug gang connections would have brought them to Davison’s attention and he was determined to make life as difficult as possible for drug dealers operating in his area.
Jock Davison was blasted in the head and body with a Glock handgun as he made his way to work in the Markets area of Belfast last Tuesday morning.
Just before 9.15am the former IRA chief was ambushed in what has been described as a well-planned attack.
The gunman did not hesitate, riddling his target with bullets as passers-by, including school children, screamed and ran for cover.
His son Gerard was a short distance from his father when he was brutally murdered, his heartbreaking screams and cries ‘daddy, daddy, that’s my daddy’ echoed over Welsh Street.
Unfazed by the scene of carnage he had created, the gunman, who is in his late 20s, calmly handed his weapon to an accomplice who, according to sources, had the role of getting rid of the weapon while the killer fled the scene on foot to a nearby safe house where he removed and disposed of his clothing.
The Sunday World has been informed that the killer then went to bed as if it was just a normal day as the family of Jock Davison, just a short distance away, tried desperately to reach him as he lay on the street.
There was fevered speculation as to who may have been responsible for the killing, with the finger of blame being pointed
variously at drug gangs and elements within the dissident groups.
Senior republicans Colin Duffy, Alex McCrory (pictured left) and Harry Fitzsimons sent a message of sympathy from Maghaberry Prison where they are on remand awaiting trial on a series of terrorist charges in connection with dissident activity.
Republican Network for Unity has also issued a statement expressing sympathy for the Davison family.
Three men have been questioned in connection with the shooting but have all been released without charge.
