Natalie Truesdale and Mark Adair – the nephew of notorious loyalist Johnny
“Mad Dog” Adair – were away from the house in Summer Street in North Belfast when several men opened fire.
Loyalist sources said the UDA was behind the attack. Last month the group claimed it was making an indefinite extension to its ceasefire.
In December 2002, Truesdale’s former boyfriend, 22-year-old Jonathan Stewart, was shot dead during a party. The killing was linked to a feud between Adair, who used to run the UDA in West Belfast, and the rest of the group’s leadership.
Last year her father, Ian Samuel Truesdale, 42, was charged with Stewart’s murder. He denied the killing and is still awaiting trial. Adair, whose supporters ended up fleeing to England last year, is due to be released from Maghaberry Prison in County Antrim next year.
Meanwhile, six Catholic members of the local policing watchdog in
Craigavon, Co. Armagh, said they were threatened by dissident republicans.
One of them, SDLP councilor Dolores Kelly, said the members would not quit the District Police Partnership in the face of the threats. Several members
of DPPs in Strabane and Derry have had their homes attacked repeatedly by republicans.