[153], The UVF have been implicated in drug dealing in areas from where they draw their support. Loyalists were successful in importing arms into Northern Ireland. Along with the newly formed Ulster Defence Association (UDA), the UVF started an armed campaign against the Catholic population of Northern Ireland. [29], On 12 October, a loyalist protest in the Shankill became violent. Progress is being made, inch by inch. During the service, mourners were told there is a campaign to have overturned the conviction for which Gusty Spence served a jail sentence, the killing of 18-year-old Belfast Catholic Peter Ward in 1966. [50], Spence married Louie Donaldson, a native of the city's Grosvenor Road, on 20 June 1953 at Wellwood Street Mission, Sandy Row. VideoAt the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Why Covid lab-leak theory is now being taken seriously, Blackpink lead top stars back on the road in Asia, Exploring the rigging claims in Nigeria's elections, 'Wales is in England' gaffe sparks TikToker's trip, Ukraine war casts shadow over India's G20 ambitions, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. Gusty Spence announced the loyalist paramilitary ceasefires in 1994, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. F". [30] There were bombings on 30 March, 4 April, 20 April, 24 April and 26 April. Gusty Spence (1933-2011) was a Loyalist paramilitary volunteer, a founding member and early leader of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). It set up a paramilitary-style wing called the Ulster Protestant Volunteers (UPV). [58][59][105] Graham has held the position since he assumed office in 1976. VideoRecord numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. Mein Nisinta Seirbhse Poibl na hireann, Originally Published / Wednesday, 28 Sep 2011. [116], Like the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), the UVF's modus operandi involved assassinations, mass shootings, bombings and kidnappings. Ontario is to Ulster Protestants what Boston is to Irish Catholics." Two of those later convicted (James McDowell and Thomas Crozier) were also serving members of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), a part-time, locally recruited regiment of the British Army. [80], In the twentieth IMC report, the group was said to be continuing to put its weapons "beyond reach", (in the group's own words) to downsize, and reduce the criminality of the group. Read about our approach to external linking. He was jailed for life for the murder of a Catholic barman in 1966 and served 18 years in prison. Augustus Spence was born in a Protestant area of Belfast, not far from Shankill Road. [53] These men had overthrown the "hawkish" officers, who had called for a "big push", which meant an increase in violent attacks, earlier in the same month. Flanked by his PUP colleagues Jim McDonald and William Plum Smith, as well as Ulster Democratic Party members Gary McMichael, John White and Davy Adams, Spence read out the statement from Fernhill a former Cunningham family home on their former Glencairn estate in Belfast's Glencairn area. [2] He was sent to Crumlin Road Prison. Colin Wallace, part of the intelligence apparatus of the British Army, asserted in an internal memo in 1975 that MI6 and RUC Special Branch formed a pseudo-gang within the UVF, designed to engage in violence and to subvert the tentative moves of some in the UVF towards the political process. There are various credible[citation needed] allegations that elements of the British security forces colluded with the UVF in the bombings. He then became involved in politics and announced the landmark loyalist paramilitary ceasefires in 1994. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [84] The Independent Monitoring Commission stated Moffett was killed by UVF members acting with the sanction of the leadership. Spence said loyalists offered "abject and true remorse" to the loved ones of all the innocent victims of the Troubles. The loyalist leader always denied responsibility and his family are now challenging the conviction. Unable to find their target, the men drove around in search of any Catholic instead. Correspondence includes Spence's correspondence with leaders and imprisoned members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and letters concerning his imprisonment originally . Spence claimed that he was approached in 1965 by two men, one of whom was an Ulster Unionist Party MP, who told him that the UVF was to be re-established and that he was to have responsibility for the Shankill. Mr Spence was brought up in the Shankill, but was forced out in later years by loyalists opposed to his defence of the peace process and his opposition to continued paramilitary activity. He was sworn in soon afterwards in a ceremony held in secret near Pomeroy, County Tyrone. [10] Whatever the truth of this intelligence, Gusty Spence's Shankill UVF team was made up of only around 12 men on its formation. [127] A British Army report released in 2006 estimated a peak membership of 1,000. [22] Spence's involvement in the killings gave him legendary status among many young loyalists and he was claimed as an inspiration by the likes of Michael Stone. [citation needed] There were also reports that UVF members fired shots at police lines during a protest. The UVF carried out dozens of sectarian murderers and it was while he was serving a sentence in Long Kesh prison for his role in the murder of a Catholic that Mr Spence began to change his views about the use of violence. [82] The IICD confirmed that "substantial quantities of firearms, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices" had been decommissioned and that for the UVF and RHC, decommissioning had been completed. Spence in 1972, while at large from prison, National Committee on American Foreign Policy, Biographies of people prominent during 'the Troubles': S, "CAIN: Background: Chronology of Key Events 1800 to 1967". [citation needed], On 26 March 2022, the UVF was linked to a hoax bomb alert at a bar in Warrenpoint, County Down. What's he waiting for? In her address to the church congregation, Ms Purvis recalled how Mr Spence had been frank about his UVF role, but that he had often shocked loyalist contemporaries by his willingness to bring an end to conflict and build bridges between working class Protestants and Catholics. The vast majority (more than two-thirds)[9][10] of its victims were Irish Catholic civilians, who were often killed at random. In accordance with Spence's wishes, there were no paramilitary trappings at the funeral or reference to his time in the UVF. [46] A few days after the announcement, Spence made a trip to the United States along with the PUP's David Ervine and Billy Hutchinson and the UDP's McMichael, Adams and Joe English. [94] The high levels of orchestration by the leadership of the East Belfast UVF, and the alleged ignored orders from the main leaders of the UVF to stop the violence has led to fears that the East Belfast UVF has now become a separate loyalist paramilitary grouping which doesn't abide by the UVF ceasefire or the Northern Ireland Peace Process. Anderson, Malcolm & Bort, Eberhard (1999). '[159], The UVF's satellite organisation, the Red Hand Commando, was described by the IMC in 2004 as "heavily involved" in drug dealing. She said: "Some people have said that in his later life, he changed to become committed to peace. The charges were dropped but later in 1966 he was given life for the murder of Peter Ward, who had called in to a Shankill Road bar with Catholic workmates and was shot dead as he left. In incidents carried out within days of each other in June 1966, Mr Spences gang killed two Catholic men, plus a Protestant pensioner who was murdered in a failed attempt to burn a neighbouring Catholic-owned bar. [73], On 2 September 2006, BBC News reported the UVF might be intending to re-enter dialogue with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, with a view to decommissioning of their weapons. Read about our approach to external linking. "He was really a role model for many young men who would follow.". The group had been proscribed in July 1966, but this ban was lifted on 4 April 1974 by Merlyn Rees, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, in an effort to bring the UVF into the democratic process. None the less, they ransacked the house and stole Spence's army medals, while the Spence family were forced to stay off the Shankill for the entirety of the loyalist feud. Leader of the, 414 (~85%) were civilians, 11 of whom were civilian political activists, 21 (~4%) were members or former members of republican paramilitary groups, 44 (~9%) were members or former members of loyalist paramilitary groups, 6 (~1%) were members of the British security forces. ", This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 06:47. The UVF very clearly have involvement in drug dealing, all forms of gangsterism, serious assaults, intimidation of the community. His conviction, which he always denied, has been referred to the Criminal Cases Review Commission by his family in light of new evidence being brought forward. [10] Spence then found employment at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, where he worked as a stager (builder of the scaffolding in which the ships are constructed), a skilled job that commanded respect amongst working class Protestants and ensured for Spence a higher status within the Shankill. The group concluded a general acceptance of the need to decommission, though there was no conclusive proof of moves towards this end. Human error to blame for train crash - Greek PM, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. Images Courtesy of Getty Images. [12] Due to his later involvement in a murder, Spence was expelled from the Orange Order and the Royal Black Institution. Spence now argued that UVF members were soldiers and soldiers should not kill civilians, as had been the case at McGurk's Bar. While republicans were the expressed target, the attacks that followed were explicitly sectarian. While the only echoes of Mr Spences paramilitary past were the UVF murals that dotted his funeral route, a guard of honour was formed by veterans of his old British Army regiment, the Royal Ulster Rifles. Though, for its own purposes, it assumed the same name it has nothing else in common. [40] These were all subordinate to the Brigade Staff. He was OC of the IRA in the Cavan area during the Border campaign in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He will be buried in Bangor after a funeral service on the Shankill Road. Some of them left much of Belfast without power and water. [20], In October 1966, Spence was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Ward, although Spence has always claimed he was innocent. [66] The UVF also killed senior IRA paramilitary members Liam Ryan, John 'Skipper' Burns and Larry Marley. The biggest of these was the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings, which killed 34 civilians, making it the deadliest terrorist attack of the conflict. He was shot dead by the IRA in November 1982, four months after his release from the Maze Prison. [139] In 2002 the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee estimated the UVF's annual running costs at 12 million per year, against an annual fundraising capability of 1.5 million. The new Brigade Staff's aim was to carry out attacks against known republicans rather than Catholic civilians. [5] He was educated at the Riddel School on Malvern Street and the Hemsworth Square school, finishing his education aged fourteen. He was born in the Shankill Road area of Belfast. The former loyalist paramilitary leader Gusty Spence has died in hospital. [36] Catholic churches were also attacked. Afterwards a plot was concocted where his nephew Frankie Curry, also a UVF member, would drive Spence back to jail but the car would be stopped and Spence "kidnapped". The Shankill loyalists supported Kilfedder and following his election as MP sent a letter to Paisley accusing him of treachery during the entire affair. In October 1975, after staging a counter-coup, the Brigade Staff acquired a new leadership of moderates with Tommy West serving as the Chief of Staff. 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