West Belfast UDA boss Mo Courtney and the £10,000 extortion of Shankill ‘Granny Bingo’

Loyalist sources say the terror chief ‘fined’ the organiser of a popular illegal online game £10,000 and ordered her to pay him £100 per week protection money.

The demand came after Courtney, who denies any links to criminality, accused the woman of “bringing Catholics” onto the Shankill Road in Belfast.

A spokesman for the veteran UDA man said: “Mr Courtney has no knowledge of the incidents as described and rejects any allegations that he is involved in criminality in any form.”

The online bingo game is unlicensed and therefore illegal, meaning the organiser has not been able to lodge a complaint with the PSNI.

The woman has previously been targeted in a UDA robbery and a car belonging to a nationalist friend was set alight near her home earlier this year.

What is ‘granny bingo’?

What is the role of Mo Courtney?

Just how much of a grip does he have on the West Belfast UDA?

Olivia Peden is joined by Sunday Life’s Ciaran Barnes.