Victoria O'Hara on the rise and fall of Andre Shoukri
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Andre Shoukri was the last of the UDA's so-called 'brigadiers of bling'.
Along with former flamboyant east Belfast 'brigadier' Jim Gray and ousted
Shankill UDA leader Johnny Adair, the prominent loyalists became known for
their taste in flashy clothes and expensive lifestyle.
However, feuds within the terror group led to Adair fleeing and Gray being
shot dead.
Shoukri (30), the son of an Egyptian who married a local woman, first became
known after being charged with the manslaughter of a young tennis star in
Belfast in 1996.
He punched Gareth Parker- a Catholic-who fell on the road and was hit by a
car. Shoukri pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of assault and received an
eight-month jail sentence.
A protégé of Adair, his promotion to north Belfast 'brigadier' was seen as
an attempt by the Shankill thug to take overall control of the UDA.
But his relationship with Adair soured in September 2003 after he backed the
UDA 'inner council' as it expelled Adair, sparking a loyalist feud.
In September 2003 Shoukri was caught with a gun and bullets in the Rathcoole
estate. He claimed the weapon was for self-defence and received a six-year
jail sentence, reduced to two years on appeal.
But in November 2004 he got a taste of respectability when he, along with
other UDA leaders, met Secretary of State Paul Murphy at Stormont.
However by 2005 both Shoukri, along with Gray, had become embarrassments to
the mainstream UDA, which claimed to be trying to clean up its act.
Gray was shot dead in October 2005 and stories of Shoukri's massive gambling
debts were commonplace in the media.
In November 2005 Shoukri was arrested and remanded in custody on blackmail,
intimidation and money-laundering charges. By June 2006 both Andre and his
brother Ihab were expelled from the UDA.
Yesterday's jail sentence for Shoukri led police to state that the
once-feared leadership of the UDA in north Belfast is now a spent force. A
senior detective said: "This has had the effect of dismantling the
leadership of the UDA in north Belfast."
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