uvf gusty spence funeral

[54] The UVF was behind the deaths of seven civilians in a series of attacks on 2 October. [126] Later, in September 1972, Gusty Spence said in an interview that the organisation had a strength of 1,500. He was jailed for life for the murder of a Catholic barman in 1966 and served 18 years in prison. In keeping with his wishes, there will be no UVF trappings and his coffin will be draped in the regimental flag of the Royal Ulster Rifles in which he served. Assistant chief constable Drew Harris in a statement said "The UVF are subject to an organised crime investigation as an organised crime group. She told mourners that he had made friends among republicans and socialists and among people from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. There were no paramilitary trappings as mourners carried the coffin of the loyalist leader. [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. The loyalist leader always denied responsibility and his family are now challenging the conviction. "Sunningdale pushed hard-liners into fatal outrages in 1974". It was the deadliest attack of the Troubles. [31] Spence also took on responsibility for the restructuring, returning the UVF to the same command structure and organisational base that Edward Carson had utilised for the original UVF, with brigades, battalions, companies, platoons and sections. 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. Photograph: Peter Morrison/AP. At his funeral yesterday, Mr Spence said he was not there to deify Mr Lynch, whom he described as "a simple man but a wealthy one in terms of his friends and his love for his country". [46] Some of the new Brigade Staff members bore nicknames such as "Big Dog" and "Smudger". Since the ceasefire, the UVF has been involved in rioting, drug dealing, organised crime, loan-sharking and prostitution. [21] Some unionists feared Irish nationalism and launched an opposing response in Northern Ireland. [145], Scotland was a source of funding and aid, supplying explosives and guns. He added: "I think it helped to set some of the tone to bring us to where we are now.". "[154], According to Alan McQuillan, the assistant director of the Assets Recovery Agency in 2005, "In the loyalist community, drug dealing is run by the paramilitaries and it is generally run for personal gain by a large number of people." [citation needed] There were also reports that UVF members fired shots at police lines during a protest. Unable to find their target, the men drove around the Falls district in search of a Catholic. [58][59][105] Graham has held the position since he assumed office in 1976. A controlled explosion was carried out and the bomb was later declared a hoax. It set up a paramilitary-style wing called the Ulster Protestant Volunteers (UPV). [21] The 'Paisleyites' set out to stymie the civil rights movement and oust Terence O'Neill, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. [114] Many retaliatory attacks on Catholics were claimed using the covername "Protestant Action Force" (PAF), which first appeared in autumn 1974. Wednesday, 15 February 2023 | 10.2 . THE self described "old UVF man", Mr Gusty Spence (64), gave a brief oration at the funeral of Mr Jim Lynch (72), a former officer commanding (OC) of the IRA, at Cootehill, Co Cavan,. [149] It is estimated that the UVF nevertheless received hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations to its Loyalist Prisoners Welfare Association. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. [83], The UVF was blamed for the shotgun killing of expelled RHC member Bobby Moffett on the Shankill Road on the afternoon of 28 May 2010, in front of passers-by including children. Hundreds of mourners have attended the funeral of the former loyalist leader Gusty Spence. The group is a proscribed organisation and is on the terrorist organisation list of the United Kingdom.[8]. It claimed the pubs were used for republican fundraising. After the Troubles began, an Orange-Canadian loyalist organization known as the Canadian Ulster Loyalist Association (CULA) sprang to life to provide the 'besieged' Protestants with the resources to arm themselves. Bates was born into an Ulster Protestant family and grew up in the Shankill Road area of Belfast.He had a criminal record dating back to 1966, and later became a member of the Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisation, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). Paisley had intimated that Kilfedder, a rival for the leadership of dissident unionism, was close to Fine Gael after learning that he had attended party meetings while a student at Trinity College Dublin. Gusty Spence announced the loyalist paramilitary ceasefires in 1994, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. Read about our approach to external linking. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The UVF's leadership is based in Belfast and known as the Brigade Staff. Browse funeral homes near La Habra Heights, California. They were blamed by the PSNI on members of the UVF, who also said UVF guns had been used to try to kill police officers. However, following significant political pressure, the UVF claimed in 2007 that it was decommissioning its weapons. Two members of the group survived the attack and later testified against those responsible. He then became involved in politics and announced the landmark loyalist paramilitary ceasefires in 1994. [2] He ran his part of the Maze along military lines, drilling inmates and training them in weapons use while also expecting a maintenance of discipline. Explosives for the north were mostly shipped in small boats which set out at night from the Scottish coast and made contact at sea with vessels from Ulster ports." Get in touch with us now to get the service you need. [18] On 27 May, Spence ordered four UVF men to kill an Irish Republican Army (IRA) member, Leo Martin, who lived on the Falls Road. [29] The loyalists "intended to force a crisis which would so undermine confidence in O'Neill's ability to maintain law and order that he would be obliged to resign". Gusty Spence, who died over the weekend, was a paramilitary godfather in Northern Ireland and one of the founding figures of the UVF, but was also among the first to recognise the need for peace. 206, 207, Ed Moloney, Secret History of the IRA, p.321, "Voices From the Grave:Two Men's War in Ireland" Ed Moloney, Faber & Faber, 2010 pp 417. [21] The group called itself the "Ulster Volunteer Force" (UVF), after the Ulster Volunteers of the early 20th century, although in the words of a member of the previous organisation "the present para-military organisation has no connection with the U.V.F. ", "Ulster Volunteer Force is no longer on ceasefire, police warn", "Gary Haggarty: Ex-senior loyalist pleads guilty to 200 terror charges", "Police seize drugs and arrest 11 during raids on east Belfast UVF", "Nine men charged after east Belfast UVF police raids", "Brexit: loyalist paramilitary groups renounce Good Friday agreement", "NI riots: What is behind the violence in Northern Ireland? He was born in the Shankill Road area of Belfast. [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. As a lone piper led his funeral cortege through the area, the streets were lined by mourners. When the prisoner was unable to provide one, Spence would then seek to convince them of the wisdom of his more politicised path, something that he accomplished with Mitchell. Less extreme measures will be taken against anyone sheltering or helping them, but if they persist in giving them aid, then more extreme methods will be adopted. He was the first RUC officer to be killed during the Troubles. In the 1960s, he founded the modern Ulster Volunteer Force, an. Drong de dhnmharfir srathacha ab ea Bistir na Seanchille a bh gnomhach i m Bal Feirste sna 1970id. "[140], Protestants in Canada also supported the loyalist paramilitaries in the conflict. [citation needed] The arms were divided between the UVF, the UDA (the largest loyalist group) and Ulster Resistance.[61]. The UVF very clearly have involvement in drug dealing, all forms of gangsterism, serious assaults, intimidation of the community. Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly said many nationalists would remember Spence as someone "who was central to the sectarianism that gave birth to the modern loyalist paramilitary". There are various credible[citation needed] allegations that elements of the British security forces colluded with the UVF in the bombings. The arms are thought to have consisted of: The UVF used this new infusion of arms to escalate their campaign of sectarian assassinations. [34] Spence was arrested along with around thirty other men at a UVF drinking club in Brennan Street; but after giving a false name, he was released. [40] These were all subordinate to the Brigade Staff. Veteran anti-UVF campaigner Raymond McCord, whose son, Raymond Jr., a Protestant, was beaten to death by UVF men in 1997, estimates the UVF has killed more than thirty people since its 1994 ceasefire, most of them Protestants. "Shortly after he was jailed, Gusty, after a period of reflection on his own life, quickly started to challenge other loyalists coming into prison to reflect on their own lives.". The funeral of 78-year-old Gusty Spence, the former leader of the UVF paramilitary organisation, has taken place in Belfast. Brian Ervine said: "His contribution to the peace is incalculable and without him, probably the paramilitaries would still be at war. Others who attended included Jeanette Irvine, the widow of the former PUP Assembly member, David Ervine, Dawn Purvis, the former PUP Assembly member who resigned from the party over the UVF's activities and the former Assembly member and former Human Rights Commissioner, Monica Mc Williams. [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. [158] Loyalists in Portadown such as Bobby Jameson have stated that the LVF (the Mid-Ulster Brigade that broke away from the main UVF - and led by Billy Wright) was not a 'loyalist organisation but a drugs organisation causing misery in Portadown. [32] He was returned to Crumlin Road gaol soon afterwards, where he shared a cell with William "Plum" Smith, one of the Red Hand Commandos whom he had met upon his initial release and who had since been jailed for attempted murder. Nicholas Vella, a 14-year veteran of the Huntington Beach Police . My experience of Gusty was as the whole man. The latter had formally asked Spence for his daughter's hand in marriage during a prison visit. At the same time, he distanced himself from any policy of random murders of Catholics. [25], On 27 May, Spence sent four UVF members to kill IRA volunteer Leo Martin, who lived in Belfast. The new Brigade Staff's aim was to carry out attacks against known republicans rather than Catholic civilians. [36] It also continued its attacks in the Republic of Ireland, bombing the Dublin-Belfast railway line, an electricity substation, a radio mast, and Irish nationalist monuments. VideoRecord numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. Republicans rather than Catholic civilians explosives and guns of Ireland be killed during the Troubles us... Srathacha ab ea Bistir na Seanchille a bh gnomhach I m Bal Feirste sna 1970id area of Belfast testified those... Taken place in Belfast assistant chief constable Drew Harris in a series of attacks on 2.. 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