Notorious INLA godfather Dessie O’Hare lost a fortune when his brother Paddy took his own life and now has even more to worry about.

The self-confessed serial killer — known as the Border Fox — had secretly invested in his sibling’s property business.

But when the construction crash hit it left Paddy (49) with little more than a handful of properties — all with negative equity — and facing ruin.

O’Hare attended his brother’s funeral (main picture) in south Armagh last month as police quietly patrolled the church perimeter in case an attempt was made on his life.

One republican source told Sunday Life: “There’s no doubt Paddy killed himself because the economic slump took a terrible toll on his once-profitable business. Dessie would have felt the pinch, too, but he has concerns other than his bank account at the moment.

“He’s told many people he’s a born-again Christian devoted to charitable causes, but while he insists the past is in the past, he is terrified the past is about to catch up with him.”

And O’Hare — once the most wanted man in Ireland — has good reason to be fearful.

His friendship with terrorist thug Declan ‘Whacker’ Duffy has put him in the firing line of former INLA comrades and Irish gang boss ‘Fat Freddie’ Thompson.

An uneasy stand-off that has seen Armagh man Duffy deposed as head of the terror group’s Dublin ‘brigade’ could escalate into a full-blown and bloody feud. As a result O’Hare — who served 15 years of a 40-year sentence for the kidnapping of a Dublin dentist — has become increasingly paranoid about his personal security.

He is rarely seen in public and those living close to his detached home between Newtownhamilton and Keady have been warned he “just wants to live out his life in peace”.

In the year following his extended temporary release from Castlerea Prison in April 2006, he was said to be working with a charity for the disabled and had been an assistant to a group of pilgrims on a trip to Lourdes.

But O’Hare (52) has also good reason to fear that the law is not yet finished with him. By his own admission, O’Hare killed 26 people.

He announced after being released from an eight-year stretch in 1986 that he had become a “pacifist” — but immediately went back to waging war on members of the security forces living in isolated parts of Armagh.

In 1987 O’Hare and two other INLA members kidnapped dentist John O’Grady, a son-in-law of successful pharmaceutical businessman Dr Austin Darragh, and demanded an IR£1.5 ransom.

In order to force the family to submit to his demands, O’Hare hacked off the little finger from each of Mr O’Grady’s hands.

Their terrified victim was freed after 23 days when gardai raided a farmhouse in Co Cork. O’Hare escaped, but a month later was captured after a shootout which left gang member Martin Bryan dead.

Since his release and return to south Armagh police have kept tabs on him from a distance, but have made no attempt to arrest him, largely, it’s believed, because his murderous activities pre-

dated the Good Friday Agreement. But Protestant victims’ campaigner Willie Frazer believes the Historical Enquiries Team may be set to act.

One case they will examine centres on the murder of Margaret Ann Hearst (24), a part-time member of the UDR who was shot dead in front of her three-year-old daughter at their home in October 1977.

Just over 10 years later, on New Year’s Day 1987, O’Hare opened fire on the Armagh home of a part-time UDR soldier as he was saying goodbye to his elderly mother.

Both were hit in the hail of gunfire and 70-year-old Iris Farley later died.

Mr Frazer of FAIR said: “A lot of decent, honest, good people were murdered by O’Hare’s gang, although the police keep telling us they have no evidence.

“In the case of Iris Farley, it’s right there in front of them. Dessie O’Hare had already tried to kill her son and police had a guard on their home. They were obviously there for a reason.

“As a group we’ve had very little joy from the Chief Constable, but I’m hopeful the HET will act because we won’t be giving up the fight to bring O’Hare before the courts in Northern Ireland for his crimes.”