[3] Aside from controlling rackets and extorting protection money from a variety of businesses, it was claimed that Craig also participated in paramilitary murders.

[4] James Pratt Craig, known as Jim, was born in Belfast in 1941 and grew up in an Ulster Protestant family on the Shankill Road.

After his release in 1976,[8] he set up a large protection racket and became the UDA's chief fundraiser; by 1985 he had managed to blackmail and extort money from a number of construction firms, building sites, as well as pubs, clubs, and shops in Belfast and elsewhere in Northern Ireland, whose intimidated owners paid protection money out of fear of Craig and his associates.

It was alleged that the UDA received hundreds of thousands of pounds some of which also found their way inside Craig's pockets as part of his "commission".

[9] Craig, who was ordered to leave the Shankill Road,[12] went on to join forces with John McMichael's South Belfast Brigade.

[14] McMichael had reportedly set up an inquiry and discovered that Craig was spending money on a lavish scale, going on holidays at least twice a year and indulging in a "champagne lifestyle".

[4] At the same time it was suggested that Craig had made certain deals with Irish republican paramilitary groups, dividing up the rackets in west Belfast, and he would have been doing the IRA a favour by helping them to eliminate a high-profile loyalist such as McMichael.

[14] Craig had established links with republicans during his time in prison, and the profitable deals and exchanges of information between them ensured he would most likely not be a target for IRA assassination.

[4] He was playing pool in the pub at the time of his fatal shooting by the two men, both of whom were wearing boiler suits and ski masks and carrying automatic weapons.

[18] Less than three months after McMichael's death, Tyrie himself narrowly escaped an attempt on his life by car bomb; he subsequently tendered his resignation as commander.

[8] Author Sally Belfrage who encountered Craig at an "Eleventh night" party held at the UDA's east Belfast headquarters, summed him up as "the most personally powerful man I had ever met, with an air of animal force that inspired awe at the idea of its ever being let loose.

She claimed Craig had propositioned her; when she rebuffed his advances he took it in his stride, and grabbing a microphone, went on to lead the other revellers in a rendition of "The Sash My Father Wore".

Craig, testing the weapon, allegedly pointed it at a man who was playing pool, and shot him in the head, killing him instantly.

[27]One builder who later assisted the RUC when they set up an anti-racketeering unit, admitted that he had paid out protection money throughout the 1980s to Craig and his henchmen.