2 days ago
Terror chief ‘Harmless' Harry Stockman on brink of being kicked out of the UVF
Stockman's desperate attempt to save pal Irvine from the chop have backfired and he could be gone within a week
The paramilitary leader is said to be staring down the barrel as restless members turn their sights on him after years of corruption and he is set to follow close associate Winston `Winkie' Irvine out the door.
Stockman's desperate attempt to save pal Irvine from the chop have backfired and he could be gone within a week.
A vote of no-confidence has been called and Stockman will find himself on the outside after years of lining his pockets on the back of the UVF name.
His friend Irvine's fate was sealed at a secret Battalion meeting this week and brings to an end a long criminal career and a charmed existence.
Irvine, long time commander of UVF B Company in the Woodvale, is a wealthy man, thanks in part to a string of publicly-funded jobs – but more directly as a result of his criminal activities including racketeering and drugs.
According to sources, he was also responsible for ordering beatings and forcing people from their homes, all of which made him a hate figure.
The British and Irish governments turned a blind eye to his activities in the hope he was the man who could deliver the UVF away from criminality.
Now, members of the terror group believe he was the under the control of British security services.
This week, the Sunday World can reveal the chain of events that led to Irvine's expulsion and the shake up at the top of the organisation in decades.
Irvine is said to be stunned at his expulsion, believing the leadership of Stockman and chief of staff John `Bunter' Graham had his back.
But Graham saw the writing on the wall during a meeting of 1st Battalion UVF, attended by Brigade staff, company commanders, and senior members.
They demanded Winkie's head and Bunter granted them their wish.
With Irvine gone and Stockman likely to follow him out the door it raises fresh questions about the future of Graham himself.
After more than four decades as chief of staff he now appears isolated. His ailing health could see him stepping down.
Stockman would have been seen as his natural successor but with his fate all but sealed, the smart money is on Shankill commander Sam Austin, according to source.
Allegedly the leader of the unit, he is a popular figure and is believed to have been one of the loudest calling for Irvine and Stockman to be expelled.
The son of legendary UVF commander, the late Sam 'Pinky' Austin, he is seen as a safe pair of hands and is anti-drugs. He is vehemently anti-drugs having lost his son Dan to an accidental overdose in 2018.
Graham had come under pressure in recent weeks to replace Stockman as second in command with Austin but may now step aside completely.
Irvine now hasn't a friend in he world. His demise has been a long time coming but was inevitable the moment his MI5 handlers dropped him in 2022, sources believe.
That came in the wake of a hoax bomb attack carried out by his UVF B Company and was aimed at then Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney who was attending a cross community peace building event in north Belfast hosted by the John Hume Foundation.
Not only did his security service masters not know about it neither did Graham who insisted it had not been sanctioned.
Irvine initially tried to dodge the blame claiming it had nothing to do with him and in a meeting with Irish government representative tried to pass the buck to East Belfast UVF and Mid-Ulster UVF.
East Belfast at the time was at loggerheads with the Shankill leadership. Stockman went behind Graham's back telling senior figures that he had lost control of rogue elements within the organisation.
Betraying Graham was a fatal mistake but even as the net was closing in Stockman tried fiercely for his friend even as details of Irvine's connections with intelligence services and the PSNI emerged during his court appearance and conviction for gun running.
Anger remains over the sentence handed down to his co-accused Robin Workman who was ordered to transport a cache of weapons to Irvine.
The guns were found in the boot of Irvine's car after the pair were intercepted in June 2022.
Workman got five years while Irvine got 30 months and will likely to be out within a year. There is also suspicion around the delay in sentencing the pair and that Irvine's light sentence was influenced by the intelligence services.
Last week we revealed that Graham had ordered Irvine was to be left alone to serve his sentence. But without the cover of UVF membership he is vulnerable, particularly as he is sharing a wing with the five people convicted of the murder of Ian Ogle, none of whom have any allegiance to the UVF.
Others include Gary Taylor and Nigel Brown serving life for the 2005 murder of schoolboy Thomas Devlin in 2005 both of whom have been stood down and have come under threat from the UVF behind bars.
Another is Stephen Brown doing 30 years for the double murders of teenagers Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine in Tandragee in 2000.
Attention will now turn to Stockman, a divisive figure. A former shop steward in Shorts he rose to the top of the UVF following the Good Friday Agreement.
He was lucky to survive when UVF man Dee Madine stabbed him 10 times in 2011.
UVF sources have told the Sunday World a battalion meeting will take place shortly when Stockman's fate will be sealed.
Harry Stockman
News in 90 Seconds - Tuesday June 10
