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."