Murdered former UDA leader's assets frozen

Some €290,000 in assets belonging to murdered loyalist paramilitary Jim Gray have been frozen.

Some €290,000 in assets belonging to murdered loyalist paramilitary Jim Gray have been frozen.

Gray (47) was shot dead outside his father's home in east Belfast last month by former associates in the Ulster Defence Association while he was out on bail awaiting trial on money laundering charges.

Gray was commander of the UDA in east Belfast until he was ousted earlier this year.

Even though a number of men have been questioned, nobody has been charged with his murder.

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The Assets Recover Agency announced today it had been granted a freezing order in the High Court in Belfast on assets worth an estimated gross €290,000. The estimated net value of the recoverable assets is in the region of half that.

The agency told the court Gray 's expenditure was substantially higher than his declared income and that he derived his assets from a wide range of criminal activity, including terrorism, drugs and money laundering.

His sister, Elizabeth, was also named in the court order in respect of a sum of about €33,000 held in a bank account in her name, and although it was not alleged there was any wrongdoing on her part, the agency said the money given to her by her brother represented the proceeds of crime.

Gray was expelled from the UDA leadership in March after falling out with associates who opposed his ostentatious lifestyle and thuggery.