A loyalist killer was stood down from a ruthless murder gang over allegations that he was a woman beater.
Former UDA man Stephen McKeag, known as ‘Top Gun’, is suspected of being involved in multiple murders on behalf of the UDA’s notorious west Belfast based ‘C Company’.
He died from a cocaine and opioids overdose in 2000.
McKeag, who it is claimed may have been involved in up to 20 murders, is believed to have been responsible for killing Philomena Hanna (26) at a pharmacy where she worked on the Springfield Road in west Belfast in 1992.
Details of his activities are contained in a news book by author Martin Dillon, ‘The Sorrow and the Loss – The Tragic Shadow Cast by the Troubles on the Lives of Women’, who says the loyalist was the “type of gunman who enjoyed the experience of killing Philomena Hanna”.
The book examines the experience of women during the Troubles’, including McKeague’s former partner Tracey Coulter.
From a prominent loyalist family, her father Jackie Coulter was the commander of a local ‘C Company’ unit who was shot dead during a bitter loyalist feud in 2000.
Mr Dillon reveals how Mr Coulter had complained to ‘C Company’ boss Johnny Adair about the McKeag’s treatment of his daughter.
After meeting McKeag as a 16-year-old in 1994, Ms Coulter moved in with the killer two years later and fell pregnant to him at 19.
Speaking to the author, Ms Coulter admitted that McKeag “beat” her causing injuries that included fractured cheek bones and threatened the life of her father.
She believes the suspected multiple killer may have suffered from post traumatic stress disorder.
As well as getting an “exclusion order” her father eventually approached McKeag’s ‘C Company’ boss Johnny Adair who stood his trusted sidekick down for three months in order to give him time to kick his drug habit.
However, according to Mr Dillon, there was no stipulation for the killer not harm the father and daughter.
‘The Sorrow and the Loss – The Tragic Shadow Cast by the Troubles on the Lives of Women’ by Martin Dillon and published by Merrion Press is available now.