Sham Millar was born in Belfast to a Protestant family and made his home in the Shankill Road area of west Belfast. He is the son of Wendy Millar, who was a leading figure in the UDA's women's unit. Along with contemporaries such as his brother Herbie, Johnny Adair, Sam McCrory, "Fat" Jackie Thompson and Donald Hodgen, Millar was part of a skinhead gang that was involved in petty and violent crime in and around the lower Shankill in the early 1980s.Wood, p. 155
