Stephen McKeag (1 April 1970 – 24 September 2000), nicknamed Top Gun, was a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary and a Commander of the Ulster Defence Association's (UDA) 'C' Company in the 1990s.

[4] Along with Johnny Adair and other younger figures, McKeag helped to fill the power vacuum left in the UDA by the deaths of John McMichael and Jim Craig and the departures of Andy Tyrie and Tommy Lyttle.

[16] An attack on 14 November 1992, launched by McKeag, under the orders of Johnny Adair, on a branch of Sean Graham's bookmakers on the Oldpark Road left three Catholics dead and a number of others, including some Protestants who also frequented the betting shop, injured.

On 24 March 1993, Peter Gallagher, a 44 year old Sinn Féin member from Toomebridge, County Antrim was killed by McKeag when he arrived at his work at the Westlink Enterprise Centre, just off Distillery Street in West Belfast.

[24] Following the killing of Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) leader Billy Wright by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) inside the Maze Prison in December 1997, Adair, who was a strong admirer of "King Rat", told McKeag that he had carte blanche to avenge the murder.

[25] On 23 January 1998 he was also involved in the killing of Liam Conway on north Belfast's Hesketh Road, although McKeag was brought before the Inner Council of the UDA for this attack as the movement had declared a ceasefire a few hours earlier.

McKeag claimed that the attack was in response to the continuing activity of the INLA, and his fearsome reputation meant that the Inner Council would not reprimand him, even though the murder resulted in the Ulster Democratic Party being excluded from all-party talks.

[28] A celebrated figure within loyalism for his exploits, cracks began to show in 1999, notably at an event at the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes on the Corcrain estate in Portadown where McKeag was mobbed by fans from the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) and on stage was applauded by all except his C Company comrades Adair and Gary "Smickers" Smyth.

[31] One of McKeag's last violent actions was opening fire on police with an AK-47 during riots in response to the Drumcree conflict on Belfast's Carlisle Circus, a junction at the base of the Crumlin and Antrim Roads near the city centre.

Both Newell and Adgey were sentenced in 1995 for passing information about leading republicans including Brian Gillen and Alex Maskey to the UDA and it has been claimed that McKeag was their main point of contact with the organisation.

An animal lover, McKeag variously owned a Rottweiler dog, a parrot, an iguana, a scorpion, a snake and a collection of tropical fish, and had even attempted to purchase a monkey until his then live-in girlfriend prevented him from doing so.

His face was heavily bruised and a crossbow bolt embedded into the wall nearby, and it was initially assumed that he had been killed; however a post-mortem found that his death was caused by a lethal combination of painkillers and cocaine.

[36] McKeag was buried at Roselawn Cemetery in the east of the city in front of around 1,000 mourners, including Adair, Smyth and UVF/RHC representatives, with floral tributes sent by Ulster Young Militants and Combat 18.