Stanley looked at the rap sheet. ‘Not a lot, and mostly when he was a teenager – just theft and a couple of burglaries. There’s one for reckless GBH when he was eighteen, though. He did three years for that.’

‘Doesn’t exactly sound like the headcase we’re looking for, though,’ Cam remarked.

Stanley picked up another faxed page marked ‘confidential’.

‘It’s what he hasn’t been convicted of that’s more interesting. According to his intel file he’s a bare-knuckle fighter with a reputation as a hard man and “fundraiser” for the UDA.’

‘Who the fuck are they?’ Bax asked.

The Colonel shook his head in disbelief.

‘Christ, you’re an ignorant fucker, Bax. The Ulster Defence Association – they’re a paramilitary loyalist group who protect Protestant districts from IRA attacks. The reality is both sides are just a bunch of murdering thugs.’

Stanley continued, ‘O’Reilly was suspected of running a protection racket in Belfast, where he blackmailed and extorted money for the UDA from construction firms, building sites, pubs and shops.’

‘Now that does sound more like the guy we’re interested in,’ Cam remarked.

‘It gets better,’ Stanley said. ‘In 1978 three businessmen decided to testify against him on the condition their identities remained hidden. Someone leaked it to O’Reilly and one of them was shot dead by a masked gunman in front of his wife and children. The others then withdrew their allegations and the case against him collapsed.’

He handed Murphy the intel fax.

‘Was O’Reilly arrested for the murder?’ Teflon asked.

‘Yes, but he was given an alibi by two of his henchmen, which the RUC couldn’t disprove, so they had to release him.’

‘Why did he come to London?’ Teflon asked.

Stanley shrugged. ‘Don’t know. The intel report doesn’t mention it, so the RUC may not even know he’s here.’

‘Could be he needed to lie low for a while,’ Bax suggested.

‘Or he was worried the RUC would fit him up.’ The Colonel grinned.

Murphy handed the fax back to Stanley.

‘O’Reilly could have come to London for any number of reasons; it’s what he’s up to right now that we need to focus on. He’s clearly a dangerous criminal who will undoubtedly be surveillance conscious.’ He paused for thought, then looked at Teflon. ‘Print off the PNC hits on George Ripley for me, and the recorded convictions.’

‘Yes, Guv,’ Teflon replied, thinking he meant later.

‘Now, please. I want to see if he has any joint convictions and who with.’

Teflon went over to the PNC terminal, sat down and started to type in George Ripley’s details while Murphy continued with the meeting.