[101], In April 2021, riots erupted across Loyalist communities in Northern Ireland.[relevant? Fifteen Catholic civilians were killed and seventeen wounded. [153], The UVF have been implicated in drug dealing in areas from where they draw their support. [24] The murder of Ward was, however, repudiated by Paisley and condemned in his Protestant Telegraph, sealing the split between the two. "On behalf of Sinn Fein I would wish to extend my condolences to his family at this time.". 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. She said: "Some people have said that in his later life, he changed to become committed to peace. [25], On 27 May, Spence sent four UVF members to kill IRA volunteer Leo Martin, who lived in Belfast. The family of the former UVF leader Gusty Spence is planning a funeral with the emphasis on his British army past rather than his time in the paramilitary group. Fire engulfed the house next door, badly burning the elderly Protestant widow who lived there. Read about our approach to external linking. [30] Met by two members of the Red Hand Commando upon his release, Spence was informed of the need for a restructuring within the UVF and told not to return to prison. The report added that individuals, some current and some former members, in the group have, without the orders from above, continued to "localised recruitment", and although some continued to try and acquire weapons, including a senior member, most forms of crime had fallen, including shootings and assaults. "He was really a role model for many young men who would follow.". [125], The UVF has killed more people than any other loyalist paramilitary group. Openly paraded with the UVF and thanked Gusty Spence repeatedly for his services to Ulster. However, following significant political pressure, the UVF claimed in 2007 that it was decommissioning its weapons. 2023 BBC. "[97], In June 2017, Gary Haggarty, former UVF commander for north Belfast and south-east Antrim, pleaded guilty to 200 charges, including five murders. [29], Spence was granted two days leave around in early July 1972 to attend the wedding of his daughter Elizabeth to Winston Churchill "Winkie" Rea. [39], Spence began to move towards a position of using political means to advance one's aims, and he persuaded the UVF leadership to declare a temporary ceasefire in 1973. One of the first UVF members to be convicted of murder, Spence was a senior figure in the organisation for over a decade. Augustus Spence was born in a Protestant area of Belfast, not far from Shankill Road. A man committed to social and economic justice and equality and a man absolutely devoted and committed to his wife and family.. . Wright was apparently enraged by the nickname and made numerous threats to O'Hagan and Campbell. Malcolm Sutton's Index of Deaths from the Conflict in Ireland, part of the Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN), states that the UVF and RHC was responsible for at least 485 killings during the Troubles, and lists a further 256 loyalist killings that have not yet been attributed to a particular group. In accordance with Spence's wishes, there were no paramilitary trappings at the funeral or reference to his time in the UVF. 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. In the 1960s, he founded the modern Ulster Volunteer Force, an organisation which was responsible for hundreds of sectarian murders during the Troubles. In 2007, he announced that the UVF and an associated group, the Red Hand Commando, would cease to exist in their previous form. [151][152] These shipments were considered enough for the UVF/UDA to wage its campaign, most of which were used to kill its victims. The family of the former UVF leader Gusty Spence is planning a funeral with the emphasis on his British army past rather than his time in the paramilitary group. Video, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. Gusty Spence was a significant figure in loyalist Belfast for most of his life. [21] Two days later, the Government of Northern Ireland declared the UVF illegal. Augustus Andrew Spence (28 June 1933 [2] - 25 September 2011) was a leader of the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and a leading loyalist politician in Northern Ireland. [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. The biggest of these was the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings, which killed 34 civilians, making it the deadliest terrorist attack of the conflict. [19] On 26 June, the same gang shot dead Catholic civilian Peter Ward (18) and wounded two others as they left a pub on Malvern Street in the lower Shankill. It was the UVF's deadliest attack in Northern Ireland, and the deadliest attack in Belfast during the Troubles. Correspondence includes Spence's correspondence with leaders and imprisoned members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and letters concerning his imprisonment originally . Loyalists were successful in importing arms into Northern Ireland. 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. Hundreds of mourners have attended the funeral of the former loyalist leader Gusty Spence. [47] Spence went on to become a leading advocate for the Good Friday Agreement. 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[55] The hawks had been ousted by those in the UVF who were unhappy with their political and military strategy. Brian Ervine said: "His contribution to the peace is incalculable and without him, probably the paramilitaries would still be at war. Wednesday, 15 February 2023 | 10.2 . Grob-Fitzgibbon, Benjamin. "They are holding local communities to ransom. Henry McDonald. He was shot dead by the IRA in November 1982, four months after his release from the Maze Prison. [21] In April 1966, Ulster loyalists led by Ian Paisley, a Protestant fundamentalist preacher, founded the Ulster Constitution Defence Committee (UCDC). [34] In December, the UVF detonated a car bomb near the Garda central detective bureau and telephone exchange headquarters in Dublin. The vast majority (more than two-thirds)[9][10] of its victims were Irish Catholic civilians, who were often killed at random. Entdecke Gareth Mulvenna - Mein Leben in Loyalitt - Neues Taschenbuch - C245A in groer Auswahl Vergleichen Angebote und Preise Online kaufen bei eBay Kostenlose Lieferung fr viele Artikel! [42], Spence was increasingly disillusioned with the UVF and he imparted these views to fellow inmates at Long Kesh. He was jailed for life for the murder of a Catholic barman in 1966 and served 18 years in prison. There was to be much overlap in membership between the UCDC/UPV and the UVF.[22]. [117] Members were trained in bomb-making, and the organisation developed home-made explosives. The statement also included a warning that activities could "provoke another generation of loyalists toward armed resistance". Former Ulster Volunteer Force leader Gusty Spence has died aged 78. Unable to find their target, the men drove around the Falls district in search of a Catholic. As a PUP representative he took a principal role in delivering the loyalist ceasefires of 1994. [71], On 14 September 2005, following serious loyalist rioting during which dozens of shots were fired at riot police and the British Army the Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain announced that the British government no longer recognised the UVF ceasefire. Read about our approach to external linking. 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. "[56], His funeral service was held in St Michael's Church of Ireland on the Shankill Road. [36], Spence soon became the UVF commander within the Maze Prison. This collection contains Gusty Spence's personal and business correspondence from 1959-1998, the bulk of which was written during . [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. Referring to its activity in the early and mid-1970s, journalist Ed Moloney described no-warning pub bombings as the UVF's "forte". What's he waiting for? (Thesis 2017). The UVF was also clashing with the UDA in the summer of 2000. "Overstating and Misjudging the Prospects of Civil War: The Ulster Volunteer Force and the Irish Volunteers in the Home Rule Crisis, 19121914." page 1. ", "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? "[140], Protestants in Canada also supported the loyalist paramilitaries in the conflict. Since the ceasefire, the UVF has been involved in rioting, drug dealing, organised crime, loan-sharking and prostitution. [30] There were bombings on 30 March, 4 April, 20 April, 24 April and 26 April. [146][147] Former MI5 agent Willie Carlin said: There were safe houses in Glasgow and Stirling. That year, a string of tit-for-tat pub bombings began in Belfast. The 78-year-old died in hospital at the weekend after a long illness. In March and April that year, UVF and UPV members bombed water and electricity installations in Northern Ireland, blaming them on the dormant IRA and elements of the civil rights movement. When the Assets Recovery Agency won a High Court order to seize luxury homes belonging to ex-policeman Colin Robert Armstrong and his partner Geraldine Mallon in 2005, Alan McQuillan said "We have further alleged Armstrong has had links with the UVF and then the LVF following the split between those organisations." More militant members of the UVF who disagreed with the ceasefire, broke away to form the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), led by Billy Wright. Ever Loved makes it easy to compare funeral homes, funeral parlors and mortuaries, so you can find the best fit. Augustus 'Gusty' Spence (born 28th June 1933) is a former leader of the Ulster Volunteer Force, Loyalist politician and soldier in the British Army. [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. [8] He was frequently involved in street fights with republicans and garnered a reputation as a "hard man". [38] By this time Spence polarised opinion within the UVF, with some members fiercely loyal to a man they saw as a folk hero and others resenting his draconian leadership and increasing emphasis on politics, with one anonymous member even labelling him "a cunt in a cravat". During this time he restructured the organisation into brigades, battalions, companies, platoons and sections. It was not in his later life. The largest death toll in a single attack was in the 3 March 1991 Cappagh killings, when the UVF killed IRA members John Quinn, Dwayne O'Donnell and Malcolm Nugent, and civilian Thomas Armstrong in the small village of Cappagh. He added: "I think it helped to set some of the tone to bring us to where we are now.". It comprises high-ranking officers under a Chief of Staff or Brigadier-General. "He also sent a letter of condolence to the widow of Joe McCann, an IRA man, praising him as a soldier of Ireland.". The no-warning car bombings had been carried out by units from the Belfast and Mid-Ulster brigades. 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, yesterday. 2023 BBC. The Irish parliament's Joint Committee on Justice called the bombings an act of "international terrorism" involving the British security forces. Gusty Spence announced the loyalist paramilitary ceasefires in 1994, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. All were widely blamed on the IRA, and British soldiers were sent to guard installations. [16] Because of his military experience, Spence was chosen as the military commander and public face of the UVF when the group was established. The UVF very clearly have involvement in drug dealing, all forms of gangsterism, serious assaults, intimidation of the community. In May 1966, the UVF issued a statement, announcing that it was declaring war on the IRA. [84] Eleven months later, a man was arrested and charged with the attempted murder of the UVF's alleged second-in-command Harry Stockman, described by the Belfast Telegraph as a "senior Loyalist figure". [54] The UVF was behind the deaths of seven civilians in a series of attacks on 2 October. In 1984, the UVF attempted to kill the northern editor of the Sunday World, Jim Campbell after he had exposed the paramilitary activities of Mid-Ulster brigadier Robin Jackson. 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. [29], On 12 October, a loyalist protest in the Shankill became violent. He later became involved in politics and announced the landmark loyalist paramilitary ceasefires in 1994. [18][19] Some members have also been found responsible for orchestrating a series of racist attacks. [10] Whatever the truth of this intelligence, Gusty Spence's Shankill UVF team was made up of only around 12 men on its formation. [57] In 1976, Tommy West was replaced with "Mr. F" who is alleged to be John "Bunter" Graham, who remains the incumbent Chief of Staff to date. Nicholas Vella, a 14-year veteran of the Huntington Beach Police . Birgen, Julia. [116], Like the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), the UVF's modus operandi involved assassinations, mass shootings, bombings and kidnappings. A number of friends and family members spoke at the service at St Michael's Church of Ireland on the Shankill Road. He was jailed for life for the murder of a Catholic barman in 1966 and served 18 years in prison. In the 1960s, he founded the modern Ulster Volunteer Force, an organisation which was responsible for hundreds of sectarian murders during the Troubles. From that time until the early 1990s the Mid-Ulster Brigade was led by Robin "the Jackal" Jackson, who then passed the leadership to Billy Wright. [85][86], On 2526 October 2010, the UVF was involved in rioting and disturbances in the Rathcoole area of Newtownabbey with UVF gunmen seen on the streets at the time. 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. Home; About; Testimonials; Contact; Select Page. 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