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Billy Wright (July 7, 1960 – December 27, 1997) was a Northern Irish paramilitary [1], a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and leader of the extremist Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF). He was killed by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) group in 1997. is the 188th day of the year (189th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ...
December 27 is the 361st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (362nd in leap years). ...
Year 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar). ...
Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom lying in the northeast of the island of Ireland, covering 5,459 square miles (14,139 km², about a sixth of the islands total area). ...
A paramilitary organization is a group of civilians trained and organized in a military fashion. ...
The Ulster Volunteer Force (more commonly referred to as the UVF) are a loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. ...
The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) is a loyalist terrorist group in Northern Ireland which broke away from the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and was led by the late Billy Wright. ...
The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) is an Irish republican paramilitary organization which was formed on December 8, 1974. ...
Early life and entering the UVF
Billy Wright was born in Wolverhampton to an Irish Protestant family,[2] but was raised in Mountnorris, in south Armagh (a predominantly Irish nationalist area). Wright's parents separated when he was six and he lived for a time in a children's home in Mountnorris. The young Wright mixed with Catholics and played Gaelic football indicating an amicable relationship with the local Catholic, nationalist population. Nor were his family extreme loyalists. Wright's father, while campaigning for an inquest into his son's death, would later describe loyalist killings as "abhorent". Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. ...
Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ...
Mountnorris is a small village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, about three miles from Markethill. ...
Statistics Province: Ulster County Town: Armagh Area: 1,254 km² Population (est. ...
An Irish nationalist is generally one who seeks (greater) independence of Ireland from Great Britain, including since 1921 the goal of a United Ireland. ...
Gaelic football (Irish: Peil or Caid ), commonly referred to as football, Gaelic or GAA (gah), is a form of football played mainly in Ireland. ...
However, Billy Wright joined the youth section of the Ulster Volunteer Force at the age of fifteen, partly in response to the Kingsmill massacre of 1976, when ten local Protestants were killed by Republicans -the climax of a cycle of sectarian killings in the area. Wright's uncle, father-in-law and brother-in-law were all also shot dead by republicans in this period. Wright later said of the Kingsmill massacre, "I was 15 when those workmen were pulled out of that bus and shot dead. I was a Protestant and I realised that they had been killed simply because they were Protestants. I left Mountnorris, came back to Portadown and immediately joined the youth wing of the UVF. I felt it was my duty to help my people and that is what I have been doing ever since" [3]. In the Kingsmill massacre on January 5, 1976, ten Protestant men were killed in South Armagh, Northern Ireland, by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, using the cover name South Armagh Republican Action Force. The victims were textile workers returning home to Bessbrook in a Ford Transit mini-bus...
Portadown (from the Irish: Port an Dúnáin meaning port of the fortress) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. ...
Locals say he was also "indoctrinated" by local loyalist paramilitaries [4]. Wright was soon arrested as a result of his UVF activities and was sentenced to six years in prison for arms offences and hijacking in 1977. He served 42 months for these crimes at the Crumlin Road and Maze prisons. When his prison term was completed, Wright went briefly to Scotland but soon returned to Portadown in Northern Ireland. He worked there as an insurance salesman, married and had two daughters. He also became a Born again Christian in this period and worked as a gospel preacher in county Armagh. Wright's religious faith had contradictory influences on his life. On the one hand, he argued that his faith drove him to defend the 'Protestant people of Ulster', while at the same time, he conceded that the way in which he had taken that fight to the enemy would ensure his damnation [5]. Crumlin Road courthouse, linked to the gaol by underground passage Crumlin Road Gaol is a former prison situated in north Belfast, Northern Ireland. ...
The personnel gate to the main guard office. ...
Motto (Latin) No one provokes me with impunity Cha togar mfhearg gun dioladh (Scottish Gaelic) Wha daur meddle wi me?(Scots)1 Anthem (Multiple unofficial anthems) Scotlands location in Europe Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official languages English, Gaelic and Scots1 Government Constitutional monarchy - Monarch Queen Elizabeth II...
Portadown (from the Irish: Port an Dúnáin meaning port of the fortress) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. ...
Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom lying in the northeast of the island of Ireland, covering 5,459 square miles (14,139 km², about a sixth of the islands total area). ...
Insurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss. ...
Born again Cristian: A person who has renewed their christian faith ...
// Dammit redirects here. ...
Mid Ulster UVF commander and founder of LVF In the mid 1980s, after a five year absence from the organisation, Wright resumed his UVF activities. He was arrested repeatedly throughout the 1980s on suspicion of murder and conspiracy.
Wright became commander of the UVF brigade in the mid-Ulster area around Portadown and directed up to 20 sectarian killings, according to the Northern Ireland Security Forces, though he was never convicted of any [6]. While most of Wright's unit's victims were Catholic civilians, some were republican paramilitaries. In 1991, the mid Ulster UVF killed three IRA men, along with an elderly by-stander, in Cappagh, county Tyrone. It is also claimed that Wright, at this time was one of the most significant drug dealers in the area, primarily in ecstasy [7]. As a result of his unit's killings, he became a target for assassination by the IRA and also the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) leader Dominic McGlinchey. The IRA tried to kill Wright on five different occasions, at one time planting a bomb under his car, but he survived each time. Portadown (from the Irish: Port an Dúnáin meaning port of the fortress) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. ...
Sectarianism is an adherence to a particular sect or party or denomination, it also usually involves a rejection of those not a member of ones sect. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
Statistics Province: Ulster County Town: Omagh Area: 3,155 km² Population (est. ...
These lollipops, above, were found to contain heroin when inspected by the US Drug Enforcement Administration In jurisdictions where legislation restricts or prohibits the sale of certain popular drugs, it is common for an illegal drugs trade to develop. ...
MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine), most commonly known by the street names ecstasy or XTC (for more names see the full list), is a synthetic entactogen of the phenethylamine family, whose primary effect is believed to be the stimulation of secretion as well as inhibition of re-uptake of large amounts...
Provisional Irish Republican Army (Irish name: Óglaigh na hÉireann) (PIRA; more commonly referred to as the IRA, the Provos, or by some of its supporters as the Army or the RA) is an Irish Republican left-wing paramilitary organisation that, until the Belfast Agreement, sought to end Northern Ireland...
The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) is an Irish republican paramilitary organization which was formed on December 8, 1974. ...
Dominic McGlinchey (1954 – 10 February 1994) was an Irish republican paramilitary with the Irish National Liberation Army. ...
Wright's unit called themselves the "Brat pack". Sunday World journalist Martin O'Hagan satirically named them the "rat pack" and Billy Wright himself as "King Rat". Much to Wright's annoyance, the name stuck in popular consciousness. In response, Wright had the newspaper's offices bombed and issued a death threat to O'Hagan and anyone who worked for the paper. [8] In addition to being one of its leading military figures, Wright was also a political militant within the UVF, and he publicly disagreed with their leadership's calling of a ceasefire in October 1994. The Sunday World is an Irish newspaper published by Sunday Newspapers Limited, a division of Independent News and Media. ...
Owen Martin OHagan, was an Irish journalist, born June 23, 1950. ...
A ceasefire is a temporary stoppage of a war or any armed conflict, where each side of the conflict agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. ...
Wright was again critical of the UVF when they failed to organise attacks in support of an Orange Order parade at Drumcree, which had been banned in July, 1996. As a result of the leadership's in-action, he ordered several killings on his own initiative, including that of Catholic civilian James Morgan. Orange parade in Glasgow (1 June 2003) The Orange Institution, more commonly known as the Orange Order, is a Protestant fraternal organisation based predominantly in Northern Ireland and Scotland with lodges throughout the Commonwealth and in the United States. ...
Orange Walk could mean at least two things The Orange Walk District is an area of Belize. ...
Portadown (Port an Dúnáin in Irish) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. ...
On July 9, 1996, at the height of the Drumcree stand off, the body of Catholic taxi driver, Michael McGoldrick, was found shot dead in his cab in a remote lane at Aghagallon, near Lurgan, a day after having picked up a fare in the town. He had been shot five times in the head. Portadown (Port an Dúnáin in Irish) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. ...
WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 54. ...
Several years later, Clifford McKeown, a former loyalist Supergrass, was convicted of the murder of Michael McGoldrick. McKeown, who had claimed that the killing was a birthday present for Billy Wright, was sentenced to 24 years imprisonment for his involvement in the murder[9]. The term supergrass is used in Northern Ireland to refer police informers, typically the arrested paramilitaries who divulged the identities of their compatriots to the Royal Ulster Constabulary in exchange for immunity from prosecution and in many cases substantial sums of money. ...
Wright was dismissed from the UVF for these unauthorised attacks and was threatened with execution.
However, Wright ignored the threat and in a public show of defiance, formed the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF[10]), taking members mainly from his old UVF brigade. Wright appeared at the the Drumcree stand off and made the following statement; " I will not be leaving Ulster, I will not change my mind about what I believe is happening in Ulster. But all I would like to say is that it has broken my heart to think that fellow loyalists would turn their guns on me, and I have to ask them for whom are you doing it." The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) is a loyalist terrorist group in Northern Ireland which broke away from the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and was led by the late Billy Wright. ...
They were joined by other loyalists disaffected by the peace process, giving them a maximum strength estimated at around 250 activists. They operated outside the Combined Loyalist Military Command and ignored the ceasefire order of October 1994. Wright denounced the UVF leadership as "communists", for the left wing inclinations of some of their public statements about reconciliation with the nationalist community. The LVF was proscribed (made illegal) by Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Mo Mowlam in June 1997. This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
When discussing the history of Northern Ireland, the peace process is generally considered to cover the events leading up to the 1994 IRA ceasefire, the end of most of the violence of The Troubles, the Belfast (or Good Friday) Agreement, and subsequent political developments. ...
The Combined Loyalist Military Command was an umbrella body for Loyalist paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland set up in the early 1990s. ...
This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ...
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is the British cabinet minister who has responsibility for the government of Northern Ireland. ...
The Right Honourable Marjorie Mo Mowlam (September 18, 1949 - August 19, 2005) was a British politician, former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Labour MP. Her personal charisma, reputation for plain speaking and successful fight against a brain tumour led her to be perceived by many as one of...
Despite a series of sectarian murders and attacks on Catholic property attributed to the LVF through 1996-1997 (although they were not claimed), Wright was not successfully imprisoned until March 1997 when he was convicted of threatening to kill a woman and was sentenced to eight years. Initially imprisoned at HMP Maghaberry he was sent to the Maze again in April 1997. He demanded and was granted an LVF section in C and D wings of H-block 6 (H6) for himself and 26 fellow inmates. INLA prisoners were housed in the A and B wings and the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP, the political wing of the INLA) warned there would be trouble if the prisoners were not kept segregated. In May of 1997 the LVF agreed to a ceasefire - mainly in the hope of securing early release for Wright and other prisoners. In August 1997 LVF prisoners rioted over their visiting accommodation in the Maze. HMP Maghaberry was built on the site of a Second World War airfield near Lisburn, Northern Ireland which was used as a transit base for the United States Army Air Force. ...
Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) describes itself as a republican socialist party and claims to be both Marxist-Leninist and republican. ...
Killing of Wright A tense situation existed within the Maze prison. INLA inmates had told staff "they intend, given a chance, to take out the LVF". The Prison Officers Association said precautions had been put in place to ensure inmates from the two groups did not come into contact with each other. Prison officers however, had grave concerns over security measures in H Block 6, where Wright and the LVF were housed. Five months later, LVF leader Wright was ambushed by an INLA team, led by Christopher 'Crip' McWilliams. He was shot three times and died on the scene. Christopher Crip McWilliams (born 1960) is an Irish republican paramilitary and former Chief of Staff of the INLA from West Belfast, Northern Ireland. ...
Wright is considered a hero and martyr figure by hardline loyalists. Loyalist gunmen at a paramilitary display in Portadown in 2000 told journalists "He did what he had to do to ensure that our faith and culture were kept intact" [11].
The LVF was reduced without its leader and became more closely tied to the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) of Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair. The group committed a series of almost random attacks on Catholic civilians in revenge for the death of Wright. Martin O'Hagan, a journalist whom Wright especially disliked, was killed in September 2001 by the Red Hand Defenders, a cover-name. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Johnny Adair (nickname: Mad Dog, 1963-) was the leader of C Company of the loyalist paramilitary organisation Ulster Freedom Fighters, a cover name of the Ulster Defence Association. ...
Owen Martin OHagan, was an Irish journalist, born June 23, 1950. ...
The Red Hand Defenders (RHD) is an extremist terrorist group formed in 1998 and composed largely of Protestant hardliners from loyalist groups observing a cease-fire. ...
The nature of Wright's killing, within a high security prison, has led to speculation that the authorities colluded with the INLA to have him killed as he was a danger to the emerging Peace Process. Wright's father has campaigned for a public inquiry into his son's murder and has appealed for help to the Northern Ireland, British and Irish authorities for help in the matter. The murder was investigated by the Cory Collusion Inquiry and it was recommended that the UK Government launch an inquiry into the circumstances of Wright's death. The Cory Collusion Inquiry was established to conduct an independent inquiry into deaths relating to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. ...
June 2005 saw the Billy Wright inquiry open [12], chaired by Lord MacLean. Also sitting on the inquiry are academic professor Andrew Coyle from the University of London and the former Bishop of Hereford, the Reverend John Oliver [13]. Ranald Norman Munro MacLean, Lord MacLean, 66, retired from Scotlands judicial bench in 2005. ...
Professor Andrew Coyle is Professor of Prison Studies in the School of Law at Kings College London. ...
The University of London is a university based primarily in London. ...
The Bishop of Hereford is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford in the Province of Canterbury. ...
References - ^ http://www.tkb.org/KeyLeader.jsp?memID=133
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,,415590,00.html
- ^ Toby Harnden, Bandit Country, the IRA and South Armagh, page 140
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,,415590,00.html
- ^ http://www.irish-association.org/archives/stevebruce11_oct03.html
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,,415590,00.html
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,596079,00.html
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,596068,00.html
- ^ Loyalist killer gets 24 years
- ^ BBC FactFile: LVF
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,596079,00.html
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4522306.stm
- ^ Billy Wright Inquiry
External links - An account of the murder of Wright from An Camchéachta, IRSP newspaper
- Cory Collusion Inquiry Report -Billy Wright HMSO. 2004
Further reading - Chris Anderson, The Billy Boy: The life and death of LVF leader Billy Wright, Mainstream Publishing, 2002. ISBN 1-84018-639-9
- Sean McPhilemy The Committee : Political Assassination in Northern Ireland (Hardcover), Roberts Rinehart, May 1998, ISBN 978-1570982118
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