Charlie ‘The Rapist’ Calderwood allowed back into Shankill UDA

Desperate UFF C Company commander Mo Courtney has brought not one but two controversial characters back into the leadership.

Calderwood and Paul 'Gull' Hamilton are back - and word on the street is it's because he has no one else to run the show.

It is a measure of Courtney's desperation that he has turned to two of the most divisive and hated figures in the UDA's recent history.

Hamilton was expelled after he was accused of stealing money from under the noses of the paramilitary leadership.

But it was Calderwood who was a symbol of the drug-laden debauchery of the Shankill UDA.

He and a squad of sidekicks including Hamilton oversaw a lucrative racketeering and drug-running racket.

The unit was based in the heavily fortified Rifles Club on the Shankill.

But Cocky Calderwood's greed caught up with him when he was stood down as C Company Commander in 2006 after a bar-room showdown.

The incident was sparked by a lower Shankill resident who appealed to the leadership of the UDA after borrowing money from Calderwood.

The paramilitary goon was strong-arming his victim for £1,100 despite him only borrowing £100. He had been beaten several times.

Calderwood was already a hate figure among members because of his brutal rape of a nurse in the late 80s. Despite his savage crime he had been allowed to remain a key member of the UDA leadership, rising to the rank of commander.

His fate was decided at a stormy meeting in the Rifles when he and a number of other senior figures were stood down.

At the time, a UDA source told the Sunday World it was ironic his fate was sealed in the Rifles, where he could be find most days propping up the bar.

Calderwood sidekick Paul 'Gull' Hamilton has also been brought back in from the cold.

The sectarian killer - he murdered Catholic hotdog seller William Boviard in 1976 - was kicked out of the UDA after being allegedly caught with his hands in the till.

The terror group's leadership was said to have 'fined' him £50,000 in 2006 when it was revealed he was involved drug-running rackets on the side.

It was alleged Hamilton failed to hand over a further £25,000 the UDA leadership claimed he had pocketed from drug rackets on the Shankill, money he should have handed in to HQ.

Before being sent into exile he was told he was lucky to escape with his life, had the UDA not been on ceasefire, he was told, he would have been executed.

The return of two such high-profile and controversial figures is sure to be divisive and is an indication the Shankill UDA has no intention of moving away from criminality.

Meanwhile two brothers have been expelled with a £7,000 fine for selling drugs on the side, but are now believed to have switched their allegiance to another dealer close to Woodvale Commander Jim Spence.

Calderwood and Gull now run the road under the direction of Courtney.

A spokesperson for Jim Spence said his client denied any involvement in criminality or membership of the UDA.