FORMER terror chief Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair has lifted the lid on his short time in Bolton - and says it was "a nightmare".

The loyalist godfather was exiled to Bolton because of a bitter feud with rival Ulster Defence Association (UDA) factions in Northern Ireland.

In a new book which tells the story of his life, Adair claims that during the 10 months he spent living in Horwich with his family between being released from prison and fleeing to Scotland he was:

  • Hounded by police who tracked his every move.
  • Betrayed by wife Gina, who ditched him for her son's 24-year-old friend, after he stood by her during her battle with cancer.
  • Banned from taking his young daughter to school in Bolton because other parents were terrified of his reputation.
  • Repeatedly told by Special Branch that his life was in danger from revenge attacks.

The autobiography, entitled "Mad Dog", is on sale from March 26 and details Adair's rise from a street thug to one of the most feared paramilitaries of The Troubles.

Adair served two thirds of a 16-year sentence for directing terrorism before being freed in January 2005.

His wife and supporters were already living in Bolton after being forced out of Belfast in 2003 when Adair was blamed for the shooting of John Gregg, a loyalist icon and member of a rival UDA faction.

The 43-year-old tells in the book how he felt helpless when, while he was behind bars in HMP Maghaberry, his wife's home was targeted by UDA gunmen who fired shots at the windows in March 2003.

His son Jonathan, then aged 19, was jailed for five years in 2003 for dealing heroin and crack cocaine in Bolton, just weeks before Gina was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

Adair reveals in the book that he was placed on suicide watch at the time but managed to get through his incarceration by thinking of life outside.

He writes: "My release after two years in isolation couldn't have come soon enough.

"I was taken to Horwich, where the cops took a mugshot of me and made it plain they weren't happy about me being there.

"If I overstepped the line, they were going to be waiting to stamp down on me as hard as they could.

"It didn't take long to realise that I'd swapped HMP Maghaberry for HMP Bolton.

"It wasn't before long the police were giving me a hard time and made it clear they wanted me to be someone else's problem."

Adair left Bolton for Scotland in November 2005 after learning how his wife had found love with Wayne Dowie, a 24-year-old former friend of his son Jonathan's.

He was sentenced to a 12-month supervision order for a vicious assault on Gina in a Horwich park which was witnessed by dozens of young children.

Of the attack, he said: "I don't pretend I feel anything other than shame about what happened.

"Drunk or not, my behaviour was unacceptable."