Donald Hodgen (born 25 May 1963) is a Northern Irish loyalist and a former member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). He was best known as the commander and chief enforcer of West Belfast Brigade leader Johnny Adair's notorious C Company which operated on the Shankill Road.
Early years
Born into a Protestant family in Belfast, Northern Ireland in May 1963, Hodgen grew up on Albertville Drive in the loyalist Lower Oldpark area, which is close to the Lower Shankill. In the early 1980s he joined a racist skinhead gang based in the Lower Shankill and Lower Oldpark areas which included Johnny Adair, Sam McCrory, "Fat" Jackie Thompson, James and Herbie Millar amongst its membership. Hodgen, Adair, McCrory and Thompson were all classmates at the Somerdale School on the Crumlin Road. and, although the gang still officially attended the school, they would frequently skip school, catch a public bus into the near-countryside and consume large quantities of cider. This was always procured by Hodgen, who was much taller than the rest of the gang and so appeared older than he actually was. Hodgen formed a close friendship with Adair during their time together in the skinhead gang.
The gang began to gather outside the Buffs Club on the corner of the Crumlin Road and Century Street, where their numbers were swollen by other young men from in and around the Shankill. The imposing Hodgen, who for a time had a red-white-and-blue mohican and had tattoos on his head of the Union Flag and the legend "Oi! Skins", became the most recognised face of the gang. The gang became involved in petty crime, progressing steadily into more violent activities and even formed a Rock Against Communism-styled band called "Offensive Weapon". Although Hodgen did not play with the group he and another skinhead called Marty, who was English-based and more usually worked for Skrewdriver, were the band's road crew for their gigs. Part of the Offensive Weapon's performance would see Hodgen and Marty invade the stage at the end of the band's set and attack the band members, to the delight of the audience.
The gang, which was part of a wider group in loyalist north and west Belfast known as the "NF Skinz" because of their vague support for the National Front, gained widespread notoriety on 14 January 1981 when "Seig Heiling" members launched a brutal attack on anti-racist fans of The Specials and The Beat when the two bands played a concert at the Ulster Hall. Hodgen was present at this event as well as the August 1983 "Gluesniffers March", when 200 skinheads descended on Belfast City Hall determined to riot with Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament members, who were themselves holding a rally. The march took its name from the prevalence of solvent abuse among the skinheads. The gang was not sanctioned by the UDA leadership, and their activities led to South Belfast brigadier John McMichael declaring that he wanted the gang members "run out of town".
Ulster Defence Association C Company
In 1984 Hodgen and the rest of the Century Street gang, whose low-level criminal and anti-social activity had inspired complaints by some locals to the UDA, were recruited into that organisation after being effectively told that if they did not join they would face the wrath of the local brigade. Along with Adair, McCrory and Thompson, Hodgen was assigned to C8, an active unit that formed part of the West Belfast Brigade's C Company, which covered the lower Shankill. The young members early duties mostly consisted of rioting, along with occasional gun attacks on heavily armoured police vehicles or arson attacks on local businesses felt to be employing "too many" Catholics. The unit however was eager to become more active and from an early stage plotted to kill solicitor Pat Finucane, although the plan was initially vetoed by the brigade leadership.