THE wife of a convicted terrorist chief who has been living in Bolton has opened secret talks with loyalists to allow her to return home to Northern Ireland.

Gina Adair, who is married to Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair, fled Belfast with her four children last February following a feud in the Ulster Defence Association.

Mrs Adair, aged 37, is living in Chorley New Road, Horwich, with her four-year-old son Jay and daughter Chloe, aged eight. A senior loyalist is believed to have travelled to Bolton last week to act as a go-between for the UDA.

Mrs Adair travels regularly to Northern Ireland to visit her husband in Maghaberry Prison despite concerns for her safety.

Last summer she was pictured in a newspaper arriving at Belfast International Airport with some of her children. Her public return angered the UDA leadership, who warned her to stay out of Northern Ireland.

But if an agreement is reached in the talks, Mrs Adair would be free to visit her husband as much as she wants. Part of the proposed deal is alleged to involve her husband handing over a hidden cache of weapons which the UDA claims he has stashed somewhere in Belfast. Just three months after she moved to Bolton with a group of around 20 of her husband's supporters, shots were fired at the house where Mrs Adair has been living.

No one was injured in the drive-by shooting on April 30. The Ulster Freedom Fighters, a branch of the UDA, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Last month, a bomb was planted under the car of John "Fat Jackie" Thompson, an Adair associate, who lives in Windsor Grove, Halliwell. The device failed to go off and residents had to leave their homes for two days while it was removed by the Army.

If a truce is declared, Mrs Adair will still have to wait until the conclusion of proceedings at Bolton Crown Court before she could go home for good.

She is accused of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs -- namely heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine -- alongside her son Jonathan, aged 19, who is also charged with supplying drugs. They are due to appear with four other people facing drug allegations at Bolton Crown Court on February 20 for a plea and directions hearing.