A FORMER leading dissident republican was shot dead yesterday at the illegal diesel site he ran in west Belfast. Tommy Crossan (43), who once led the Continuity IRA in the city, was shot several times at the site off Springfield Road at about 4.45pm. It is understood that three men jumped out of a car and opened fire. Crossan was pronounced dead at the scene. A partially burnt-out car was found in the nearby Beechmount area shortly afterwards. Crossan was jailed for 10 years for a gun attack on police in 1999. He was the 'officer commanding' of Continuity IRA prisoners in Maghaberry jail but in recent years he was expelled from the paramilitary organisation for criminal activity. Crossan was murdered shortly after many church- goers left Good Friday Mass. The parish priest of St Paul's Church on Falls Road later administered the Last Rites. Crossan's family, including his daughter, quickly arrived. Within minutes of the shooting hundreds of onlookers, many of them children, flocked to the scene and watched as police taped off the busy road. Dozens of people took photos on their mobile phones or rang friends to tell them of the shooting, which happened just metres from a children's playpark. Crossan was a one-time associate of Declan 'Deccy' Smith who was murdered in a gangland shooting in Dublin last month. In recent months Crossan had aligned himself with a handful of other expelled former republicans calling themselves the Irish Volunteers. Along with a member of a well-known west Belfast family they were involved in the 'taxing' of drug dealers. Earlier this year members of the group known as Oglaigh na hEireann ordered Crossan and his associates to 'stand down'. Crossan is thought to have told other dissidents at the time that he was no longer interested in paramilitary activity, having invested illegal funds into his fuel yard. However, there was speculation that he was continuing to use the yard as cover for further crimes and had sought the protection of dissidents based in Limerick. ? Story in full ? P6 n VICTIM: Tommy Crossan was former 'officer commanding' of Continuity IRA prisoners in Maghaberry jail while he served a 10-year sentence for a 1999 gun attack on police * GUN ATTACK: Police and, left, bystanders at the murder scene near the Peter Pan Industrial Centre PICTURES: Hugh Russell
