[81], In June 2009 the UVF formally decommissioned their weapons in front of independent witnesses as a formal statement of decommissioning was read by Dawn Purvis and Billy Hutchinson. Accueil / Non class / gusty spence funeral; 15 Sep 0. gusty spence funeral . When Spence was 'abducted' in July 1972 it was the RHC who were at the forefront of this operation. 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,. [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. Donoghue noted the links between Orange Lodges in Scotland and loyalist paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland and that membership of the Orange Order in Scotland at the time was 80,000, and was concentrated in Glasgow, Lanarkshire and Inverness. This development came soon after the UVF's Brigade Staff in Belfast had stood down Wright and the Portadown unit of the Mid-Ulster Brigade, on 2 August 1996, for the killing of a Catholic taxi driver near Lurgan during Drumcree disturbances. The UVF killed four men in Belfast and trouble ended only when the LVF announced that it was disbanding in October of that year. [54] The number of killings in Northern Ireland had decreased from around 300 per year between 1973 and 1976 to just under 100 in the years 19771981. Save up to 70% with our image packs Pre-pay for multiple images and download on demand. Mr Spence argued for a ceasefire with republicans from as early as the mid-1970s and played a key role in encouraging young loyalists he met in prison to think of the reasons for their involvement in violence. Home; About; Testimonials; Contact; Select Page. [26], On 26 June, the group shot dead a Catholic civilian and wounded two others as they left a pub on Malvern Street, Belfast. [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. In February, it began to target critics of militant loyalism the homes of MPs Austin Currie, Sheelagh Murnaghan, Richard Ferguson and Anne Dickson were attacked with improvised bombs. 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". 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. Edward's son Ronnie was active in the Official IRA and then the INLA, serving a sentence on the INLA wing of the Maze prison while his uncle was on the UVF wing. [11] He was also a member of the Royal Black Institution and the Apprentice Boys of Derry. 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. [50] The UVF was banned again on 3 October 1975 and two days later twenty-six suspected UVF members were arrested in a series of raids. [40] However, Spence's ideas were abandoned as the UVF ceasefire fell apart that same year following the Ulster Workers' Council strike and the Dublin and Monaghan bombings; the carnage of the latter had shocked and horrified Spence. Hundreds of mourners have attended the funeral of the former loyalist leader Gusty Spence. CAIN also states that republicans killed 15 UVF members, some of whom are suspected to have been set up for assassination by their colleagues. Human error to blame for train crash - Greek PM, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. In 2007, he announced that the UVF and an associated group, the Red Hand Commando, would cease to exist in their previous form. [89] The UVF leader in East Belfast, who is popularly known as the "Beast of the East" and "Ugly Doris" also known as by real name Stephen Matthews, ordered the attack on Catholic homes and a church in the Catholic enclave of the Short Strand. One study focusing in part on female members of the UVF and Red Hand Commando noted that it "seem[ed] to have been reasonably unusual" for women to be officially asked to join the UVF. 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. Gusty Spence Funeral RIP 21,778 views Nov 15, 2013 95 Dislike Share Save Elmwoodgrove 14 subscribers The Funeral at Craven Street Gusty said Some day The PUP will grow a set of Jaws And BITE. RT.ie is the website of Raidi Teilifs ireann, Ireland's National Public Service Media. All were widely blamed on the IRA, and British soldiers were sent to guard installations. [35], In January 1970, the UVF began bombing Catholic-owned businesses in Protestant areas of Belfast. [17], He was entrusted by the Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC) to read out their 13 October 1994 statement that announced the loyalist ceasefire. [2] He initially worked solely for the PUP but after a spell also set up the Shankill Activity Centre, a government-supported scheme to provide training and leisure opportunities for unemployed youths. [74], On 3 May 2007, following recent negotiations between the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) and Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and with Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde, the UVF made a statement that they would transform to a "non-military, civilianised" organisation. [36], Spence soon became the UVF commander within the Maze Prison. We are heavily armed Protestants dedicated to this cause. DeSantis won't say he's running. 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. Officers from the PSNI's Paramilitary Crime Task Force also seized drugs, cash and expensive cars and jewellery in an operation carried out against the criminal activities of the UVF crime gang. He will be buried in Bangor after a funeral service on the Shankill Road. This move came as the organisation held high-level discussions about its future. Two members of the group survived the attack and later testified against those responsible. 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. [7] His family had a long tradition of Orange Order membership. It claimed the pubs were used for republican fundraising. [46] This resulted in a sharp increase in sectarian killings and internecine feuding, both with the UDA and within the UVF itself. [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. House of Commons: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, Cusack & McDonald, p.3435, 105, 199, 205, The Lost Lives, David McKittrick, Page 1475, Last edited on 28 February 2023, at 06:47, Timeline of Ulster Volunteer Force actions, protests throughout Northern Ireland, some of which became violent, Provisional IRA campaign 1969-1997 Loyalists and the IRA killing and reprisals, Republic of Ireland national football team, Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, "Report drawn up on behalf of the Political Affairs Committee on the situation in Northern Ireland", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfGe4WO8yok, "Sutton Index of Deaths: Organisation responsible for the death", "Sutton Index of Deaths: Crosstabulations", "Inside the UVF: Money, murders and mayhem - the loyalist gang's secrets unveiled", "UVF mural on Shankill Road being investigated by police", "UVF 'behind racist attacks in south and east Belfast'", Chronology of Key Events in Irish History, 1800 to 1967, "Irish tighten security after Dublin bombing", "Call for probe of British link to 1974 bombs", "Collusion in the South Armagh / Mid Ulster Area in the mid-1970's". The incumbent Chief of Staff, is alleged to be John "Bunter" Graham, referred to by Martin Dillon as "Mr. [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. 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. In May 1966, the UVF issued a statement, announcing that it was declaring war on the IRA. The UVF's leadership is based in Belfast and known as the Brigade Staff. [98], On 23 March 2019, eleven alleged UVF members were arrested during a total of 14 searches conducted in Belfast, Newtownards and Comber and the suspects, aged between 22 and 48, were taken into police custody for questioning. 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. Gusty Spence funeral to have no . Some of them left much of Belfast without power and water. [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. [84] The Independent Monitoring Commission stated Moffett was killed by UVF members acting with the sanction of the leadership. Spence told Radio Ulster that the UVF had been "engaged in murder, attempted murder of civilians, attempted murder of police officers. However, the year leading up to the loyalist ceasefire, which took place shortly after the Provisional IRA ceasefire, saw some of the worst sectarian killings carried out by loyalists during the Troubles. The crowds included a leader of the loyalist Ulster Defence Association Jackie McDonald. He then became involved in politics and announced the landmark loyalist paramilitary ceasefires in 1994. An article published by the newspaper fingered Wright as a drug lord and sectarian murderer. The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group. [21] In April 1966, Ulster loyalists led by Ian Paisley, a Protestant fundamentalist preacher, founded the Ulster Constitution Defence Committee (UCDC). [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. [75] This was to take effect from midnight. The funeral of 78-year-old Gusty Spence, the former leader of the UVF paramilitary organisation, has taken place in Belfast. [44] In 1977, he publicly condemned the use of violence for political gain, on the grounds that it was counter-productive. Almost 10 years later in October 1994, he was chosen to announce to the world that the main loyalist paramilitary groups, the UVF and the UDA, were declaring ceasefires in response to an IRA cessation. [125], The UVF has killed more people than any other loyalist paramilitary group. It began carrying out gun attacks to kill random Catholic civilians and using car bombs to attack Catholic-owned pubs. [17], On 7 May 1966, a group of UVF men led by Spence petrol bombed a Catholic-owned pub on the Shankill Road. [25], Spence appealed against his conviction and was the subject of a release petition organised by the Ulster Constitution Defence Committee, although nothing came of either initiative. Read about our approach to external linking. [42] Both the UVF and the British Government have denied the claims. It was not in his later life. Video, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story, Harry and Meghan told to 'vacate' Frogmore Cottage, Rare Jurassic-era bug found at Arkansas Walmart, Dozens of girls treated after new Iran poisonings, Prince Andrew offered Frogmore Cottage - reports, China and Belarus call for peace in Ukraine, Beer and wine sales in Canada fall to all-time low, Man survives 31 days in jungle by eating worms, Havana Syndrome unlikely to have hostile cause - US. [9] Spence served until 1961 when ill-health forced him to leave. A man committed to social and economic justice and equality and a man absolutely devoted and committed to his wife and family.. From late 1975 to mid-1977, a unit of the UVF dubbed the Shankill Butchers (a group of UVF men based on Belfast's Shankill Road) carried out a series of sectarian murders of Catholic civilians. Brian Ervine said: "His contribution to the peace is incalculable and without him, probably the paramilitaries would still be at war. Bistir na Seanchille. [151] A Canadian branch of the UDA also existed and sent $30,000 to the UDA's headquarters in Belfast by 1975. 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. This collection contains Gusty Spence's personal and business correspondence from 1959-1998, the bulk of which was written during . 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. [72], On 12 February 2006, The Observer reported that the UVF was to disband by the end of 2006. But despite the statement, the UVF was subsequently involved in sporadic violence, including several murders. Stock photos, 360 images, vectors and videos [108], The UVF's stated goal was to combat Irish republicanism particularly the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and maintain Northern Ireland's status as part of the United Kingdom. The first Independent Monitoring Commission report in April 2004 described the UVF/RHC as "relatively small" with "a few hundred" active members "based mainly in the Belfast and immediately adjacent areas". [41] On 17 May, two UVF units from the Belfast and Mid-Ulster brigades detonated four car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan. F". [55], However, a granddaughter of Matilda Gould, a 74-year-old Protestant widow who had died from burns sustained in the UVF's attempted bombing of a Catholic bar next door to her home, objected to Spence being called a "peacemaker" and described him as a "bad evil man". 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). During his time in prison Spence renounced violence and helped to convince a number of fellow inmates that the future of the UVF lay in a more political approach. [85][86] Fifty-year-old Stockman was stabbed more than 10 times in a supermarket in Belfast; the attack was believed to have been linked to the Moffett killing. [46] Some of the new Brigade Staff members bore nicknames such as "Big Dog" and "Smudger". Read about our approach to external linking. In 1972, five Toronto businessmen shipped weapons in grain container ships out of Halifax, bound for ports in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland which were destined for loyalist militants. [117] Members were trained in bomb-making, and the organisation developed home-made explosives. Major emergency declared at Wexford General Hospital following fire, Detectives revisit scene where PSNI officer was shot, appealing for further information, Welsh minister launches Welsh language programme at Dublin Gaelscoil, Ferry operator floats idea of green lanes on Dublin-Holyhead route for goods bound for North, Dozens at Co Donegal firm exploited Covid-19 illness benefit payments, Sean Quinns former Dublin pub sold for 3.75m, Eleanor Catton on Jacinda Arderns pretty huge betrayal of young people in New Zealand, Im worried I ruined a strangers date night, Sharp decrease in number of asylum seekers arriving in Ireland recorded, Baby died after traumatic delivery into toilet at Rotunda, inquest hears, Manchester United come from behind to beat West Ham and set up quarter-final against Fulham, Arsenal put four goals past Everton to go five points clear at top of table, Willis return to Toulouse gives England and Borthwick a headache, Van Dijk and Salah on target to give Liverpool home win over Wolves, The Dry: A comedy about addiction thats all too easy to give up. [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. Video, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story, Harry and Meghan told to 'vacate' Frogmore Cottage, Dozens of girls treated after new Iran poisonings, Rare Jurassic-era bug found at Arkansas Walmart, Ed Sheeran says wife developed tumour in pregnancy, China and Belarus call for peace in Ukraine, Covid origin likely China lab incident - FBI chief, Man survives 31 days in jungle by eating worms, Havana Syndrome unlikely to have hostile cause - US. [54], Spence died on 25 September 2011, aged 78, in a Belfast hospital;[53] he had been suffering from a long-term illness and was admitted to hospital 12 days prior to his death. Correspondence includes Spence's correspondence with leaders and imprisoned members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and letters concerning his imprisonment originally . 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