Northern Ireland

Danny McClean murder: 'This isn't a feud it's a purge'

Daniel McClean who was shot dead in north Belfast on Tuesday night
Daniel McClean who was shot dead in north Belfast on Tuesday night Daniel McClean who was shot dead in north Belfast on Tuesday night

MURDER victim Danny McClean had been collecting information on former republican associates and had told friends he planned to “get them before they got him”.

McClean is the second of four targets to have been assassinated in the space of nine months, after allegations that he was a long-serving police informer were painted on walls in west Belfast.

The 54-year-old was to appear in court next week charged in connection with gathering information on former associates linked to dissident group Óglaigh na hÉireann (ONH) and possession of a 9mm handgun and 17 rounds of ammunition.

He was gunned down on Tuesday evening as he sat in an Audi car on the Cliftonville Road in north Belfast.

A gunman was waiting and shot him a number of times at close range before eyewitnesses say he calmly walked away.

The Irish News understands that the same gunman who shot dead McClean was also responsible for the murder of doorman Kieran Wylie in his west Belfast home last May.

West Belfast man Kieran Wylie was shot dead in May last year
West Belfast man Kieran Wylie was shot dead in May last year West Belfast man Kieran Wylie was shot dead in May last year

Wylie was also accused of being a police informer, and along with McClean had been threatening to form his own organisation to seek revenge on former associates in ONH who had accused him of working for intelligence forces.

Two other men, believed to be under threat from the same hitman, are now in hiding in fear for their lives.

Sources have told The Irish News: “This isn’t a feud, it’s a purge.”

McClean had served a short prison sentence after being convicted in January 2019 in an MI5 sting targeting members of ONH.

The court was told he was secretly taped threatening to blow a man’s legs “clean off” with a shotgun and that he “wouldn’t think twice about putting him in a body bag”.

Having already served his full prison sentence on remand, he walked from the court in 2019 but was warned by police there was information he was under threat from former associates.

He lived in an apartment close to Lisburn for a time but moved at the height of lockdown last year after his car was vandalised.

Fears that McClean was planning to turn state’s evidence against former associates added to the level of threat he was under.

When arrested outside a supermarket in April 2019 – and then a second time during searches of his home in June 2019 – names, addresses and car registrations of former dissident associates were recovered along with a handgun.

McClean was said to have been plotting attacks against members of the organisation.

Given the calculated way he was murdered, police are investigating links between the two dissident killings and that of drug dealer Jim Donegan, shot dead as he sat in his car outside a west Belfast school in December 2018.

Superintendent Jason Murphy heading up the murder investigation, said McClean’s murder was a “brutal and calculated” attack in a built-up residential area.

He appealed to the local community to help police.

“It is extremely fortunate that no-one else was injured as a result of this shooting. I have no doubt that local people will have been left extremely traumatised by this ruthless murder,” he said.

Police said last night that two men, aged 39 and 46, had been arrested in connection with the murder.

They were taken to Musgrave police station in Belfast for questioning.

Read more: Danny McClean (54) shot several times at close range as he sat in car in north Belfast