Clifford Peeples
Encyclopedia
Clifford Peeples (born c.1970) is a Northern Irish
pastor who has been associated with Ulster loyalist
activity. Peeples has been a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), the Loyalist Volunteer Force
(LVF) prisoners' spokesman and leader of the Orange Volunteers
and Jim Cusack, Peeples had been a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) early in his life. This is also confirmed by Steve Bruce. He did not come to any prominence however until the mid 1990s when he was a leading activist with Families Against Intimidation and Terror
.
-based Kenny McClinton
who had formerly been a member of the Ulster Defence Association
(UDA) before falling out with that organisation and joining forces with the UVF Mid Ulster brigadier Billy Wright
. According to McDonald and Cusack, Peeples and McClinton were also linked to a British intelligence agent known as "the Pastor". Together the three associates launched a propaganda campaign against the Progressive Unionist Party
(PUP) and Ulster Democratic Party
(UDP) through which they hoped to destabilise the nascent Northern Ireland peace process
. McDonald and Cusack further claimed that Peeples, McClinton and the "Pastor" helped to convince Wright to break from the UVF, with which he had been in dispute over what he felt was their lack of reaction to the Drumcree conflict
, in order to establish the Loyalist Volunteer Force
(LVF). The three helped to convince Wright, who was an evangelical Christian, that they intended the new group to be an "army of God".
. He was, along with McClinton, one of two unsuccessful candidates for the party in Belfast West
in the 1996 elections to the Northern Ireland Forum
. In keeping with UIM policy, Peeples campaigned against the Good Friday Agreement and on 24 April 1998, he shared a platform at an Antrim, County Antrim
rally with Democratic Unionist Party
councillors Jack McKee
and Sammy Wilson
at which he set fire to a copy of the document whilst members of the crowd shouted "and burn Fenian
s too".
As a political figure he retained his links to the LVF, and during an LVF hunger strike in the Maze prison he went into the jail to discuss the incident with the loyalist prisoners. His links to this dissident group did not go unnoticed amongst the more mainstream elements of loyalism however. For a time he ran a flower shop on the Crumlin Road
but this was ransacked in 1997 in an attack that Peeples blamed on loyalist racketeers. Peeples was seen as a target by the Ulster Volunteer Force because of his association with the LVF and their leader, the former Mid-Ulster UVF brigadier Billy Wright. He then resettled on the Woodvale Road, Greater Shankill where he began to style himself as a pastor.
fundamentalists based in Stoneyford, County Antrim
who launched a series of pipe bomb attacks on Gaelic Athletic Association
halls and the homes of prominent Irish nationalists in County Antrim
and County Londonderry
. The group also carried out eleven simultaneous arson attacks on Catholic churches. In 1999 the Royal Ulster Constabulary
, using a bugging device, overheard a conversation between a local DUP politician and the leader of this group in which the politician encouraged the OV leader to attack local Irish republicans. Peeples was the leader in question, a position he held from the group's foundation in 1998 until 1998. He defended the activities of the OV by arguing that they were "defenders of the reformed faith" and that the Roman Catholic Church
was a tool of the Antichrist
.
Peeples was assistant pastor at the Bethel Pentecostal Church on Belfast
's Shankill Road when in 1999 he was arrested for paramilitary offences and given a ten year jail sentence after a pipe bomb
and grenades were found in his car. Peeples car had been stopped outside Dungannon
on the M1 motorway
when the discovery was made, with his passenger James McGuckin-Fisher also arrested. Six months before Peeples had also been arrested after grenades were discovered in the church hall but no charges were made.
Having been replaced as leader of the OV, Peeples was disowned by the movement whilst on remand and in December 2000 he, along with Stuart Wilson from Glenavy
and Alan Lynn form Antrim, was handed a death sentence by the new leadership supposedly for leading a "black propaganda
campaign" against the group from prison. Although the precise nature of Peeples' transgressions were not discussed an OV statement clamied that:
Peeples was involved in two separate attacks on republican prisoners according to the Pat Finucane Centre
. He also led a prisoners' campaign in support of segregation as republicans and loyalists were mixed freely in the jail.
Released from jail in 2004 he returned to Bethel Church and was installed a minister at Easter 2005 in a move that divided the church. Peeples distributed the anti-Catholic "Rome Watch" pamphlet and soon split the church as Pastor John Hull, who had joined in 2001 whilst Peeples was in prison, accused Peeples of bigotry, leading to the church breaking into two factions and legal action following. "Rome Watch" was produced by Pastor Alan Campbell
, a friend and mentor of Peeples, who shares his belief in British Israelism
.
He is married to Suzanne Peeples who ran as an independent Unionist
in the Upper Bann constituency
in the 2007 Assembly election
, coming last with less than 0.2%.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
pastor who has been associated with Ulster loyalist
Ulster loyalism
Ulster loyalism is an ideology that is opposed to a united Ireland. It can mean either support for upholding Northern Ireland's status as a constituent part of the United Kingdom , support for Northern Ireland independence, or support for loyalist paramilitaries...
activity. Peeples has been a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), the Loyalist Volunteer Force
Loyalist Volunteer Force
The Loyalist Volunteer Force is a loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed by Billy Wright in 1996 when he and the Portadown unit of the Ulster Volunteer Force's Mid-Ulster Brigade was stood down by the UVF leadership. He had been the commander of the Mid-Ulster Brigade. The...
(LVF) prisoners' spokesman and leader of the Orange Volunteers
Orange Volunteers
The Orange Volunteers or Orange Volunteer Force is an Ulster loyalist and Protestant fundamentalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland.-Origins:...
Early years
According to writers Henry McDonaldHenry McDonald (writer)
Henry McDonald is a writer and is the Irish editor for The Observer, the sister paper of The Guardian.McDonald has written extensively about The Troubles, its precedents, its consequences, its demographics, and such. He was born in the nationalist Markets area of Belfast and attended St. Malachy's...
and Jim Cusack, Peeples had been a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) early in his life. This is also confirmed by Steve Bruce. He did not come to any prominence however until the mid 1990s when he was a leading activist with Families Against Intimidation and Terror
Families Against Intimidation and Terror
Families Against Intimidation and Terror was a group that campaigned against paramilitary violence during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Formed in 1990 by Nancy Gracey and others following the shooting of her son by a paramilitary organisation, it was funded by, among others, the British...
.
Loyalist Volunteer Force
Peeples became close to another pastor, the PortadownPortadown
Portadown is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about 23 miles south-west of Belfast...
-based Kenny McClinton
Kenny McClinton
Kenneth McClinton is a Northern Irish pastor and sometime political activist. During his early years McClinton was an active member of the Ulster Defence Association...
who had formerly been a member of the Ulster Defence Association
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association is the largest although not the deadliest loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during "The Troubles"...
(UDA) before falling out with that organisation and joining forces with the UVF Mid Ulster brigadier Billy Wright
Billy Wright (loyalist)
William Stephen "Billy" Wright was a prominent Ulster loyalist during the period of violent religious/political conflict known as "The Troubles". He joined the Ulster Volunteer Force in 1975 and became commander of its Mid-Ulster Brigade in the early 1990s...
. According to McDonald and Cusack, Peeples and McClinton were also linked to a British intelligence agent known as "the Pastor". Together the three associates launched a propaganda campaign against the Progressive Unionist Party
Progressive Unionist Party
The Progressive Unionist Party is a small unionist political party in Northern Ireland. It was formed from the Independent Unionist Group operating in the Shankill area of Belfast, becoming the PUP in 1979...
(PUP) and Ulster Democratic Party
Ulster Democratic Party
The Ulster Democratic Party was a small loyalist political party in Northern Ireland. It was established in June 1981 as the Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party by the Ulster Defence Association to replace their New Ulster Political Research Group...
(UDP) through which they hoped to destabilise the nascent Northern Ireland peace process
Northern Ireland peace process
The peace process, when discussing the history of Northern Ireland, is often considered to cover the events leading up to the 1994 Provisional Irish Republican Army ceasefire, the end of most of the violence of the Troubles, the Belfast Agreement, and subsequent political developments.-Towards a...
. McDonald and Cusack further claimed that Peeples, McClinton and the "Pastor" helped to convince Wright to break from the UVF, with which he had been in dispute over what he felt was their lack of reaction to the Drumcree conflict
Drumcree conflict
The Drumcree conflict or Drumcree standoff is an ongoing dispute over a yearly parade in the town of Portadown, Northern Ireland. The dispute is between the Orange Order and local residents. The residents are currently represented by the Garvaghy Road Residents Coalition ; before 1995 they were...
, in order to establish the Loyalist Volunteer Force
Loyalist Volunteer Force
The Loyalist Volunteer Force is a loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed by Billy Wright in 1996 when he and the Portadown unit of the Ulster Volunteer Force's Mid-Ulster Brigade was stood down by the UVF leadership. He had been the commander of the Mid-Ulster Brigade. The...
(LVF). The three helped to convince Wright, who was an evangelical Christian, that they intended the new group to be an "army of God".
Political activity
Peeples was also involved in politics as a member of the Ulster nationalist Ulster Independence MovementUlster Independence Movement
The Ulster Independence Movement was an Ulster nationalist political party founded on 17 November 1988. The group emerged from the Ulster Clubs, after a series of 15 public meetings across Northern Ireland...
. He was, along with McClinton, one of two unsuccessful candidates for the party in Belfast West
Belfast West (Assembly constituency)
Belfast West is a constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.The seat was first used for a Northern Ireland-only election for the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973...
in the 1996 elections to the Northern Ireland Forum
Northern Ireland Forum
The Northern Ireland Forum was a body set up in 1996 as part of a process of negotiations that eventually led to the Belfast Agreement in 1998....
. In keeping with UIM policy, Peeples campaigned against the Good Friday Agreement and on 24 April 1998, he shared a platform at an Antrim, County Antrim
Antrim
- Northern Ireland :* County Antrim, one of the counties of Northern Ireland* Antrim, County Antrim, the town* Antrim railway station, serving the town of Antrim* Antrim , an administrative division...
rally with Democratic Unionist Party
Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...
councillors Jack McKee
Jack McKee
Alderman Jack McKee is a Unionist politician in Larne, Northern Ireland.Until his resignation from the party in 2007, McKee was a Democratic Unionist Party councillor. He is one of the longest serving councillors on Larne Borough Council; like the UUP's Roy Beggs, he has served continuously since...
and Sammy Wilson
Sammy Wilson
Samuel Wilson is a politician from Northern Ireland who is a Member of Parliament and a Member of the Legislative Assembly for East Antrim. He served as Lord Mayor of Belfast in 1986 – 1987; and again from June 2000 to June 2001. He was the first person from the Democratic Unionist Party ...
at which he set fire to a copy of the document whilst members of the crowd shouted "and burn Fenian
Fenian
The Fenians , both the Fenian Brotherhood and Irish Republican Brotherhood , were fraternal organisations dedicated to the establishment of an independent Irish Republic in the 19th and early 20th century. The name "Fenians" was first applied by John O'Mahony to the members of the Irish republican...
s too".
As a political figure he retained his links to the LVF, and during an LVF hunger strike in the Maze prison he went into the jail to discuss the incident with the loyalist prisoners. His links to this dissident group did not go unnoticed amongst the more mainstream elements of loyalism however. For a time he ran a flower shop on the Crumlin Road
Crumlin Road
The Crumlin Road is a main road in north-west Belfast, Northern Ireland. The road runs from north of Belfast City Centre for about four miles to the outskirts of the city. It also forms part of the longer A52 road.-Lower Crumlin Road:...
but this was ransacked in 1997 in an attack that Peeples blamed on loyalist racketeers. Peeples was seen as a target by the Ulster Volunteer Force because of his association with the LVF and their leader, the former Mid-Ulster UVF brigadier Billy Wright. He then resettled on the Woodvale Road, Greater Shankill where he began to style himself as a pastor.
Orange Volunteers
A group known as the Orange Volunteers had existed in the early 1970s before disappearing. However the name was revived in late 1998 by a group of ProtestantProtestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
fundamentalists based in Stoneyford, County Antrim
Stoneyford, County Antrim
Stoneyford is a small village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is between Glenavy and Milltown, about 5 miles north of Lisburn. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 318 people. It is situated in the Lisburn City Council area...
who launched a series of pipe bomb attacks on Gaelic Athletic Association
Gaelic Athletic Association
The Gaelic Athletic Association is an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation focused primarily on promoting Gaelic games, which include the traditional Irish sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, handball and rounders...
halls and the homes of prominent Irish nationalists in County Antrim
South Antrim
South Antrim can refer to:*The southern part of County Antrim*South Antrim *South Antrim *South Antrim...
and County Londonderry
County Londonderry
The place name Derry is an anglicisation of the old Irish Daire meaning oak-grove or oak-wood. As with the city, its name is subject to the Derry/Londonderry name dispute, with the form Derry preferred by nationalists and Londonderry preferred by unionists...
. The group also carried out eleven simultaneous arson attacks on Catholic churches. In 1999 the Royal Ulster Constabulary
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...
, using a bugging device, overheard a conversation between a local DUP politician and the leader of this group in which the politician encouraged the OV leader to attack local Irish republicans. Peeples was the leader in question, a position he held from the group's foundation in 1998 until 1998. He defended the activities of the OV by arguing that they were "defenders of the reformed faith" and that the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
was a tool of the Antichrist
Antichrist
The term or title antichrist, in Christian theology, refers to a leader who fulfills Biblical prophecies concerning an adversary of Christ, while resembling him in a deceptive manner...
.
Peeples was assistant pastor at the Bethel Pentecostal Church on Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
's Shankill Road when in 1999 he was arrested for paramilitary offences and given a ten year jail sentence after a pipe bomb
Pipe bomb
A pipe bomb is an improvised explosive device, a tightly sealed section of pipe filled with an explosive material. The containment provided by the pipe means that simple low explosives can be used to produce a relatively large explosion, and the fragmentation of the pipe itself creates potentially...
and grenades were found in his car. Peeples car had been stopped outside Dungannon
Dungannon
Dungannon is a medium-sized town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the third-largest town in the county and a population of 11,139 people was recorded in the 2001 Census. In August 2006, Dungannon won Ulster In Bloom's Best Kept Town Award for the fifth time...
on the M1 motorway
M1 motorway (Northern Ireland)
The M1 is a motorway in Northern Ireland. It is the longest motorway in Northern Ireland and runs for from Belfast to Dungannon through County Down and County Armagh...
when the discovery was made, with his passenger James McGuckin-Fisher also arrested. Six months before Peeples had also been arrested after grenades were discovered in the church hall but no charges were made.
Having been replaced as leader of the OV, Peeples was disowned by the movement whilst on remand and in December 2000 he, along with Stuart Wilson from Glenavy
Glenavy
Glenavy is a village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, 17 kilometres north west of Lisburn on the banks of the Glenavy River. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 1,069 people. In early documents it was known as Lenavy.-Demographics:...
and Alan Lynn form Antrim, was handed a death sentence by the new leadership supposedly for leading a "black propaganda
Black propaganda
Black propaganda is false information and material that purports to be from a source on one side of a conflict, but is actually from the opposing side. It is typically used to vilify, embarrass or misrepresent the enemy...
campaign" against the group from prison. Although the precise nature of Peeples' transgressions were not discussed an OV statement clamied that:
"The Orange Volunteers believe Peeples is deliberately seeding dissent within loyalism. He has received three or four warnings to stop orchestrating a campaign of misinformation against the Orange Volunteer leadership from within Maghaberry prison. He chose to ignore those warnings. So too did Wilson and Stuart. That is the reason behind the death sentences."
Subsequent activity
Whilst in Maghaberry prisonMaghaberry (HM Prison)
HMP Maghaberry was built on the site of a World War II airfield near Lisburn, Northern Ireland that was used as a transit base for the United States Army Air Force....
Peeples was involved in two separate attacks on republican prisoners according to the Pat Finucane Centre
Pat Finucane Centre
The Pat Finucane Centre is a human rights advocacy and lobbying entity in Northern Ireland. Named in honour of murdered solicitor Pat Finucane, it operates advice centres in Derry and Newry, dealing mainly with complaints from nationalists and republicans...
. He also led a prisoners' campaign in support of segregation as republicans and loyalists were mixed freely in the jail.
Released from jail in 2004 he returned to Bethel Church and was installed a minister at Easter 2005 in a move that divided the church. Peeples distributed the anti-Catholic "Rome Watch" pamphlet and soon split the church as Pastor John Hull, who had joined in 2001 whilst Peeples was in prison, accused Peeples of bigotry, leading to the church breaking into two factions and legal action following. "Rome Watch" was produced by Pastor Alan Campbell
Alan Campbell (pastor)
Pastor Alan Campbell is the Pentecostal pastor of the Cregagh Covenant People's Fellowship in Belfast, Northern Ireland, co-director of Open Bible Ministries with Glyn Jones, and a prominent scholar and lecturer in the British Israel movement. Campbell is also popular in Historicist circles because...
, a friend and mentor of Peeples, who shares his belief in British Israelism
British Israelism
British Israelism is the belief that people of Western European descent, particularly those in Great Britain, are the direct lineal descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. The concept often includes the belief that the British Royal Family is directly descended from the line of King David...
.
He is married to Suzanne Peeples who ran as an independent Unionist
Independent Unionist
See also Independent .Independent Unionist has been a label sometimes used by candidates in elections in the United Kingdom, indicating a support for Unionism, retaining the unity of the British state....
in the Upper Bann constituency
Upper Bann (Assembly constituency)
Upper Bann is a constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.The seat was first used for a Northern Ireland-only election for the Northern Ireland Forum in 1996...
in the 2007 Assembly election
Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2007
The third elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly were held on 7 March 2007 when 108 new members were elected. The election saw endorsement of the St Andrews Agreement and the two largest parties, the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin, along with the Alliance Party, increase their...
, coming last with less than 0.2%.