He'd been hounded out of Belfast after a vicious feud. And, after being offered refuge by neo-Nazis brought mayhem to the streets of Bolton.
But now loyalist hardman Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair was on the move again. It would be the latest, unlikely chapter in the violent and blood-spattered life of one of Ulster's most notorious terrorists.
Adair had risen through the ranks of the Ulster Freedom Fighters in the 1990s. After establishing a following on Belfast's Lower Shankill estate, he became the leader of the Ulster Defence Association's notorious C company and one of the most feared gang bosses in the history of Northern Ireland's Troubles. READ MORE: In 1993 he escaped an IRA assassination bid which resulted in the death of nine people in a fish and chip shop.
A few months later he was jailed for 16 years after becoming the first person in Northern Ireland to be convicted of directing terrorism.
Read more on manchestereveningnews.co.uk