Police cordoned off the road after the fatal shooting

Inquiries are continuing into the murder of a leading loyalist shot dead outside his home in County Down.

Jim Johnston was shot in the driveway of his home on the Ballyrobert Road near Crawfordsburn on Thursday night.

A large police operation in the area around his home has been scaled down, and roads in the area have been re-opened.

The police are considering a falling out among loyalists as a possible motive for his murder.

A police spokesperson said it was believed two gunmen were involved in the shooting.

Mr Johnston was a senior figure in the Red Hand Commando - an organisation with close ties to the Ulster Volunteer Force - and had been warned by the police about his safety.

He lived in a arge secluded house in an affluent area, and is believed to have had links with the drugs trade.

If his murder was connected with a feud amongst loyalists, suspicion has fallen on the Loyalist Volunteer Force.

BBC Northern Ireland security editor Brian Rowan said some people within loyalism believed he would have been the target of other loyalists following the murder of LVF leader Stephen Warnock in Newtownards last September.