Loyalist feud
Encyclopedia
A loyalist feud refers to any of the sporadic feud
s which have erupted almost routinely between Northern Ireland
's various loyalist
paramilitary
groups since they were founded shortly before and after the religious/political conflict known as The Troubles
broke out in the late 1960s. The feuds have frequently involved problems between and amongst the Ulster Defence Association
(UDA) and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) as well as, laterally, the Loyalist Volunteer Force
(LVF).
of May 1974 when the two groups were co-operating in support of the Ulster Workers' Council. UDA members patrolling the Tiger's Bay area of North Belfast had gotten into a drunken brawl with some UVF members during which the UVF's Joe Shaw was shot and killed. A joint statement described it as a tragic accident although a subsequent UVF inquiry put the blame on Stephen Goatley and John Fulton, both UDA men. With antagonism grown another man was killed in a drunken brawl on 21 February 1975, this time the UDA's Robert Thompson. This was followed by another pub fight in North Belfast in March and this time the UVF members returned armed and shot and killed both Goatley and Fulton, who had been involved in the earlier fight. The following month UDA Colonel Hugh McVeigh and his aide David Douglas were the next to die, kidnapped by the UVF on the Shankill Road and taken to Carrickfergus
where they were beaten before being killed near Islandmagee
.
The UDA retaliated in East Belfast by attempting to kill UVF leader Ken Gibson
who in turn ordered the UDA's headquarters in the east of the city to be blown up, although this attack also failed. The feud rumbled on for several months in 1976 with a number of people, mostly UDA members, being killed before eventually the two groups came to an uneasy truce.
, tensions simmered between West Belfast UDA brigadier Johnny Adair
, who had grown weary of the Northern Ireland peace process
and the Good Friday Agreement, and the UVF leadership. Adair at this time was seeking to forge close links with the LVF, a group that the UVF had been on poor terms with since its foundation. Adair hosted a "Loyalist Day of Culture" on the Shankill on Saturday 19 August 2000, which saw around a dozen new murals officially unveiled in the lower Shankill. Unknown to the UVF leadership, who had been given assurances that no LVF regalia would be displayed on the Shankill on the day of the parade, as well as the rest of the UDA outside of Adair's "C Company", Adair had an LVF flag delivered to the lower Shankill on the morning of the parade, which he planned to have unfurled as the parade passed the Rex Bar, a UVF haunt, in order to antagonise the UVF. When this happened fighting broke out between UVF supporters, who had been standing outside the Rex watching the parade of flute bands and UDA supporters make its way up the Shankill, and those who had unfurled the LVF flag. C Company (the name given to the lower Shankill unit of the UDA's West Belfast Brigade
, which contained Adair's most loyal men) members then attacked the Rex, initially with hand weapons such as bats and iron bars, before shooting up the bar as well as the Progressive Unionist Party
(PUP) headquarters that faced the pub. C Company members then went on the rampage in the lower Shankill, attacking the homes of known UVF members and their families, including the home of veteran UVF leader Gusty Spence, and evicting the inhabitants at gunpoint as they wrecked and stole property and set fire to homes. By the end of the day nearly all those with UVF associations had been driven from the lower Shankill.
The UVF struck back forty-eight hours later on Monday morning, shooting dead two Adair associates, Jackie Coulter and Bobby Mahood, as they sat in a stationary Range Rover on the Crumlin Road, which neighbours the Shankill Road. The UVF also raked the Ulster Democratic Party
headquarters on the middle Shankill with machine-gun fire. An hour later Adair's unit retaliated and burned down the PUP's offices close to Agnes Street, the de facto border between the UVF-dominated middle and upper Shankill and the UDA-dominated lower Shankill. The UVF then responded by blowing up the UDP headquarters on the middle Shankill. Adair was returned to prison on 14 September, although the feud continued with four more killed before the end of the year. The feud also spilled over into North Belfast, where members of the UVF's Mount Vernon unit shot and killed a UDA man, David Greer, in the Tiger's Bay area, sparking a series of killings in North Belfast. An attempted expulsion of UVF members by UDA members in the County Londonderry town of Coleraine was successfully resisted by the UVF. Both the UVF and UDA leaderships were anxious to contain the feud within the Shankill area, where hundreds of families had been displaced. Within the Shankill area the A and B Companies of the West Belfast Brigade of the UDA refused to get involved in the feud and assist Adair's C Company against the UVF, which angered Adair. Eventually an official ceasefire was reluctantly agreed to by the majority of those involved in the feuding after formal procedures were established and agreed upon in order to try and prevent the escalation of any future problems between the two organisations, and after intensive talks between Gary McMichael
and David Ervine
, the leaders of the two political wings of loyalism.
when he, along with the Portadown unit of the UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade
, was stood down by the UVF leadership on 2 August 1996 for breaking the ceasefire has led to frequent battles between the two movements. This had come about when Wright's unit killed a Catholic taxi-driver during the Drumcree standoff
. Although Wright had been expelled from the UVF, threatened with execution and an order to leave Northern Ireland, which he defied, the feud was largely contained during his life and the two major eruptions came after his death.
and his men at the Portadown F.C.
social club in which the LVF supporters were severely beaten. The LVF members swore revenge and on 10 January 2000 they took it by shooting Jameson dead on the outskirts of Portadown
. The UVF retaliated by killing two Protestant teenagers
suspected of LVF membership and involvement in Jameson's death. As it turned out, the victims, Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine, were not part of any loyalist paramilitary organisation. The UDA's Johnny Adair supported the LVF and used the feud to stoke up the troubles that eventually flared in his feud with the UVF later that year. Meanwhile the UVF attempted to kill the hitman responsible for Jameson, unsuccessfully, before the LVF struck again on 26 May, killing PUP man Martin Taylor in Ballysillan. The LVF then linked up with Johnny Adair's C Company for a time as their feud with the UVF took centre stage.
However the UVF saw fit to continue the battle in 2001, using its satellite group the Red Hand Commando to kill two of the LVF's leading figures, Adrian Porter and Stephen Warnock. Adair however convinced the LVF that the latter killing was the work of one of his rivals in the UDA, Jim Gray, who the LVF then unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate.
reported that this feud had come to an end.
and Charles Harding Smith
, his rival in the west of the city, over who controlled the movement. Although they had agreed to make compormise candidate Andy Tyrie
the leader, each man considered himself the true leader. Herron was killed in September 1973 in an attack that remains unsolved.
However with confirmed in overall control of the UDA Harding Smith initially remained silent until in 1974 he declared that the West Belfast brigade of the movement was splitting from the mainstream UDA on the pretext of a visit to Libya
organised by Tyrie in a failed attempt to procure arms from Colonel Qadaffi
. The trip had been roundly criticsied by the Unionist establishment and raised cries that the UDA was adopting socialism
, and so Harding Smith used it re-ignite his attempts to take charge. Harding Smith survived two separate shootings but crucially lost the support of other leading Shankill Road UDA figures and eventually left Belfast after being visited by North Belfast Brigadier Davy Payne
who warned him that he would not survive a third attack.
was killed by the Provisional IRA in December 1987 but it was later admitted that UDA member James Pratt Craig
, a rival of McMichael's within the movement, had played a role in planning the murder. A new generation of leaders emerged at this time and decided that the woes facing the UDA, including a lack of arms and perceived poor leadership by ageing brigadiers, were being caused by the continuing leadership of Andy Tyrie.
Tyrie was forced to resign in March 1988 and the new men, most of whom had been trained up by McMichael, turned on some of the veterans whom Tyrie had protected. Craig was killed, Tommy Lyttle
was declared persona non grata and various brigadiers were removed from office, with the likes of Jackie McDonald
, Joe English
and Jim Gray taking their places.
and former politician John White
were expelled from the UDA. Many members of the 2nd Battalion Shankill Road West Belfast Brigade, commonly known known as 'C' Company, stood by Adair and White, while the rest of the organisation were involved with attacks on these groups and vice versa. There were four murders; the first victim being a nephew of a leading loyalist opposed to Adair, Jonathon Stewart, killed at a party on 26 December 2002. Roy Green was killed in retaliation. The last victims were John 'Grug' Gregg
(noted for a failed attempt on the life of Gerry Adams
) and Robert Carson, another Loyalist. Adair's time as leader came to an end on 6 February 2003 when south Belfast brigadier Jackie McDonald led a force of around 100 men onto the Shankill to oust Adair, who promptly fled to England
. Adair's former ally Mo Courtney
, who had returned to the mainstream UDA immediately before the attack, was appointed the new West Belfast brigadier, ending the feud.
Billy Hanna
was shot dead outside his Lurgan
home on 27 July 1975, allegedly by his successor, Robin Jackson
. This killing, however, was not part of a feud but instead carried out as a form of internal discipline from within the Mid-Ulster Brigade.
Feud
A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight between parties—often groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one party perceives itself to have been attacked, insulted or wronged by another...
s which have erupted almost routinely between Northern Ireland
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...
's various 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...
paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
groups since they were founded shortly before and after the religious/political conflict known as The Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
broke out in the late 1960s. The feuds have frequently involved problems between and amongst 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) and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) as well as, laterally, 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).
UDA-UVF feuds
Although the UDA and UVF have frequently co-operated and generally co-existed, the two groups have clashed. Two particular feuds stood out for their bloody nature.1975-1976
A feud in 1975 broke out between the UDA and the UVF, the two main loyalist paramilitary organisations in Northern Ireland. The bad blood originated from an incident in the Ulster Workers' Council strikeUlster Workers' Council Strike
The Ulster Workers' Council strike was a general strike that took place in Northern Ireland between 15 May and 28 May 1974, during "The Troubles". The strike was called by loyalists and unionists who were against the Sunningdale Agreement, which had been signed in December 1973...
of May 1974 when the two groups were co-operating in support of the Ulster Workers' Council. UDA members patrolling the Tiger's Bay area of North Belfast had gotten into a drunken brawl with some UVF members during which the UVF's Joe Shaw was shot and killed. A joint statement described it as a tragic accident although a subsequent UVF inquiry put the blame on Stephen Goatley and John Fulton, both UDA men. With antagonism grown another man was killed in a drunken brawl on 21 February 1975, this time the UDA's Robert Thompson. This was followed by another pub fight in North Belfast in March and this time the UVF members returned armed and shot and killed both Goatley and Fulton, who had been involved in the earlier fight. The following month UDA Colonel Hugh McVeigh and his aide David Douglas were the next to die, kidnapped by the UVF on the Shankill Road and taken to Carrickfergus
Carrickfergus
Carrickfergus , known locally and colloquially as "Carrick", is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is located on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,201 at the 2001 Census and takes its name from Fergus Mór mac Eirc, the 6th century king...
where they were beaten before being killed near Islandmagee
Islandmagee
Islandmagee is a peninsula on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, located between the towns of Larne and Carrickfergus. It is part of the Larne Borough Council area and is a sparsely populated rural community with a long history since the mesolithic period.As part of an...
.
The UDA retaliated in East Belfast by attempting to kill UVF leader Ken Gibson
Ken Gibson (loyalist)
Kenneth "Ken" Gibson was a Northern Irish politician, who acted as the Chairman of the Volunteer Political Party which he had helped to form in 1974...
who in turn ordered the UDA's headquarters in the east of the city to be blown up, although this attack also failed. The feud rumbled on for several months in 1976 with a number of people, mostly UDA members, being killed before eventually the two groups came to an uneasy truce.
2000
Although the two groups were closely linked in the Combined Loyalist Military CommandCombined Loyalist Military Command
The Combined Loyalist Military Command was an umbrella body for loyalist paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland set up in the early 1990s, recalling the earlier Ulster Army Council and Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee....
, tensions simmered between West Belfast UDA brigadier Johnny Adair
Johnny Adair
Jonathan Adair, better known as Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair is the former leader of the "C Company", 2nd Battalion Shankill Road, West Belfast Brigade of the "Ulster Freedom Fighters" . This was a cover name used by the Ulster Defence Association , an Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisation...
, who had grown weary of the 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...
and the Good Friday Agreement, and the UVF leadership. Adair at this time was seeking to forge close links with the LVF, a group that the UVF had been on poor terms with since its foundation. Adair hosted a "Loyalist Day of Culture" on the Shankill on Saturday 19 August 2000, which saw around a dozen new murals officially unveiled in the lower Shankill. Unknown to the UVF leadership, who had been given assurances that no LVF regalia would be displayed on the Shankill on the day of the parade, as well as the rest of the UDA outside of Adair's "C Company", Adair had an LVF flag delivered to the lower Shankill on the morning of the parade, which he planned to have unfurled as the parade passed the Rex Bar, a UVF haunt, in order to antagonise the UVF. When this happened fighting broke out between UVF supporters, who had been standing outside the Rex watching the parade of flute bands and UDA supporters make its way up the Shankill, and those who had unfurled the LVF flag. C Company (the name given to the lower Shankill unit of the UDA's West Belfast Brigade
UDA West Belfast Brigade
The UDA West Belfast Brigade is the section of the Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Defence Association based in the western quarter of Belfast in the Greater Shankill area...
, which contained Adair's most loyal men) members then attacked the Rex, initially with hand weapons such as bats and iron bars, before shooting up the bar as well as 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) headquarters that faced the pub. C Company members then went on the rampage in the lower Shankill, attacking the homes of known UVF members and their families, including the home of veteran UVF leader Gusty Spence, and evicting the inhabitants at gunpoint as they wrecked and stole property and set fire to homes. By the end of the day nearly all those with UVF associations had been driven from the lower Shankill.
The UVF struck back forty-eight hours later on Monday morning, shooting dead two Adair associates, Jackie Coulter and Bobby Mahood, as they sat in a stationary Range Rover on the Crumlin Road, which neighbours the Shankill Road. The UVF also raked the 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...
headquarters on the middle Shankill with machine-gun fire. An hour later Adair's unit retaliated and burned down the PUP's offices close to Agnes Street, the de facto border between the UVF-dominated middle and upper Shankill and the UDA-dominated lower Shankill. The UVF then responded by blowing up the UDP headquarters on the middle Shankill. Adair was returned to prison on 14 September, although the feud continued with four more killed before the end of the year. The feud also spilled over into North Belfast, where members of the UVF's Mount Vernon unit shot and killed a UDA man, David Greer, in the Tiger's Bay area, sparking a series of killings in North Belfast. An attempted expulsion of UVF members by UDA members in the County Londonderry town of Coleraine was successfully resisted by the UVF. Both the UVF and UDA leaderships were anxious to contain the feud within the Shankill area, where hundreds of families had been displaced. Within the Shankill area the A and B Companies of the West Belfast Brigade of the UDA refused to get involved in the feud and assist Adair's C Company against the UVF, which angered Adair. Eventually an official ceasefire was reluctantly agreed to by the majority of those involved in the feuding after formal procedures were established and agreed upon in order to try and prevent the escalation of any future problems between the two organisations, and after intensive talks between Gary McMichael
Gary McMichael
Gary McMichael is the son of former Ulster Defence Association leader John McMichael and was the leader of the now defunct Ulster Democratic Party during the peace process....
and David Ervine
David Ervine
David Ervine was a Northern Irish politician and the leader of the Progressive Unionist Party .-Biography:...
, the leaders of the two political wings of loyalism.
UVF-LVF feuds
The nature of the LVF, which was founded by Billy WrightBilly 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...
when he, along with the Portadown unit of the UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade
UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade
UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade formed part of the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force in Northern Ireland. The brigade was established in Lurgan, County Armagh in 1972 by its first commander Billy Hanna. The unit operated mainly around the Lurgan and Portadown areas. Subsequent leaders of the...
, was stood down by the UVF leadership on 2 August 1996 for breaking the ceasefire has led to frequent battles between the two movements. This had come about when Wright's unit killed a Catholic taxi-driver during the Drumcree standoff
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...
. Although Wright had been expelled from the UVF, threatened with execution and an order to leave Northern Ireland, which he defied, the feud was largely contained during his life and the two major eruptions came after his death.
1999-2001
Simmering tensions boiled over in a December 1999 incident involving LVF members and UVF Mid-Ulster brigadier Richard JamesonRichard Jameson (loyalist)
Richard Jameson , was a Northern Irish businessman and loyalist, who served as the leader of the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force's Mid-Ulster Brigade...
and his men at the Portadown F.C.
Portadown F.C.
Portadown F.C. is a semi-professional, Northern Irish football club which plays in the IFA Premiership.The club was founded in the late 1880s and joined the Irish League in 1924. It is based in Portadown in County Armagh and plays its home games at Shamrock Park...
social club in which the LVF supporters were severely beaten. The LVF members swore revenge and on 10 January 2000 they took it by shooting Jameson dead on the outskirts of Portadown
Portadown
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...
. The UVF retaliated by killing two Protestant teenagers
2000 Tandragee killings
The Tandragee killings took place in the early hours of Saturday 19 February 2000 on an isolated country road outside Tandragee, County Armagh, Northern Ireland...
suspected of LVF membership and involvement in Jameson's death. As it turned out, the victims, Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine, were not part of any loyalist paramilitary organisation. The UDA's Johnny Adair supported the LVF and used the feud to stoke up the troubles that eventually flared in his feud with the UVF later that year. Meanwhile the UVF attempted to kill the hitman responsible for Jameson, unsuccessfully, before the LVF struck again on 26 May, killing PUP man Martin Taylor in Ballysillan. The LVF then linked up with Johnny Adair's C Company for a time as their feud with the UVF took centre stage.
However the UVF saw fit to continue the battle in 2001, using its satellite group the Red Hand Commando to kill two of the LVF's leading figures, Adrian Porter and Stephen Warnock. Adair however convinced the LVF that the latter killing was the work of one of his rivals in the UDA, Jim Gray, who the LVF then unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate.
2005
In July 2005 the feud came to a bloody conclusion as the UVF made a final move against its rival organisation. The resulting activity led to the deaths of at least four people, all associated with the LVF. As a result of these attacks on 30 October 2005 the LVF announced that its units had been ordered to cease their activity and that it was disbanding. In February 2006, the Independent Monitoring CommissionIndependent Monitoring Commission
The Independent Monitoring Commission was an organization founded on 7 January 2004, by an agreement between the British and Irish governments, signed in Dublin on 25 November 2003...
reported that this feud had come to an end.
UDA internal feuds
The UDA, the largest of the loyalist paramilitary groups, has seen a number of internal struggles within its history.1972-1974
From its beginnings the UDA was wracked by internal problems and in 1972, the movement's first full year of existence, three members, Ingram Beckett, John Brown and Ernest Elliott were killed by other UDA members. The main problems were between East Belfast chief Tommy HerronTommy Herron
Tommy Herron was a loyalist from Northern Ireland, and a leading member of the Ulster Defence Association up until his fatal shooting. Herron controlled the UDA in East Belfast, one of its two earliest strongholds...
and Charles Harding Smith
Charles Harding Smith
Charles Harding Smith was a loyalist leader in Northern Ireland and the first effective leader of the Ulster Defence Association...
, his rival in the west of the city, over who controlled the movement. Although they had agreed to make compormise candidate Andy Tyrie
Andy Tyrie
Andrew "Andy" Tyrie is an Ulster loyalist and served as commander of the Ulster Defence Association during much of its early history...
the leader, each man considered himself the true leader. Herron was killed in September 1973 in an attack that remains unsolved.
However with confirmed in overall control of the UDA Harding Smith initially remained silent until in 1974 he declared that the West Belfast brigade of the movement was splitting from the mainstream UDA on the pretext of a visit to Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
organised by Tyrie in a failed attempt to procure arms from Colonel Qadaffi
Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
. The trip had been roundly criticsied by the Unionist establishment and raised cries that the UDA was adopting socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, and so Harding Smith used it re-ignite his attempts to take charge. Harding Smith survived two separate shootings but crucially lost the support of other leading Shankill Road UDA figures and eventually left Belfast after being visited by North Belfast Brigadier Davy Payne
Davy Payne
David "Davy" Payne was a senior Northern Irish loyalist and a high-ranking member of the Ulster Defence Association during the Troubles serving as brigadier of the North Belfast Brigade. He was second-in-command of the Shankill Road brigade of the Ulster Freedom Fighters , which was the "cover...
who warned him that he would not survive a third attack.
1987-1989
South Belfast Brigadier John McMichaelJohn McMichael
John "Big John" McMichael was a leading Northern Irish loyalist who rose to become the most prominent figure within the Ulster Defence Association as the Deputy Commander and leader of its South Belfast Brigade. He was also commander of the organisation's cover name, the "Ulster Freedom Fighters"...
was killed by the Provisional IRA in December 1987 but it was later admitted that UDA member James Pratt Craig
James Craig (loyalist)
James Pratt "Jim" Craig was a Northern Irish loyalist, who served as a fund-raiser for the Ulster Defence Association and sat on its Inner Council. He also ran a large protection racket from west Belfast's Shankill Road area, where he lived...
, a rival of McMichael's within the movement, had played a role in planning the murder. A new generation of leaders emerged at this time and decided that the woes facing the UDA, including a lack of arms and perceived poor leadership by ageing brigadiers, were being caused by the continuing leadership of Andy Tyrie.
Tyrie was forced to resign in March 1988 and the new men, most of whom had been trained up by McMichael, turned on some of the veterans whom Tyrie had protected. Craig was killed, Tommy Lyttle
Tommy Lyttle
Tommy "Tucker" Lyttle , was a high-ranking Northern Irish loyalist who was a member of the Ulster Defence Association . He served as the UDA's spokesman as well as the leader of the organisation's West Belfast Brigade from 1975 until his arrest and imprisonment in 1990...
was declared persona non grata and various brigadiers were removed from office, with the likes of Jackie McDonald
Jackie McDonald
John "Jackie" McDonald is a senior Northern Irish loyalist and the incumbent Ulster Defence Association brigadier for South Belfast, having been promoted to the rank by former UDA commander Andy Tyrie in 1988, following John McMichael's killing by the Provisional IRA in December 1987...
, Joe English
Joe English (loyalist)
Joe English is a former Ulster loyalist activist. English was a leading figure in both the Ulster Defence Association and the Ulster Democratic Party and was instrumental in the early stages of the Northern Ireland peace process. He is a native of the Rathcoole area of Newtownabbey, Northern...
and Jim Gray taking their places.
2002-2003
A second internal feud arose in 2002 when Johnny AdairJohnny Adair
Jonathan Adair, better known as Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair is the former leader of the "C Company", 2nd Battalion Shankill Road, West Belfast Brigade of the "Ulster Freedom Fighters" . This was a cover name used by the Ulster Defence Association , an Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisation...
and former politician John White
John White (loyalist)
John White is a former leading loyalist in Northern Ireland. He was sometimes known by the nickname 'Coco'. White was a leading figure in the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association and, following a prison sentence for murder, entered politics as a central figure in the Ulster Democratic...
were expelled from the UDA. Many members of the 2nd Battalion Shankill Road West Belfast Brigade, commonly known known as 'C' Company, stood by Adair and White, while the rest of the organisation were involved with attacks on these groups and vice versa. There were four murders; the first victim being a nephew of a leading loyalist opposed to Adair, Jonathon Stewart, killed at a party on 26 December 2002. Roy Green was killed in retaliation. The last victims were John 'Grug' Gregg
John Gregg (UDA)
John Gregg was a senior member of the UDA/UFF loyalist organisation in Northern Ireland. From the 1990s until his shooting death by rival associates, he served as brigadier of its South East Antrim Brigade...
(noted for a failed attempt on the life of Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
) and Robert Carson, another Loyalist. Adair's time as leader came to an end on 6 February 2003 when south Belfast brigadier Jackie McDonald led a force of around 100 men onto the Shankill to oust Adair, who promptly fled to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Adair's former ally Mo Courtney
Mo Courtney
William "Mo" Courntey was an Ulster Defence Association activist. He was a leading figure in Johnny Adair's C Company, one of the most active sections of the UDA, before later falling out with Adair and serving as West Belfast brigadier.-Early years:In the late 1970s and early 1980s Courtney was...
, who had returned to the mainstream UDA immediately before the attack, was appointed the new West Belfast brigadier, ending the feud.
UVF internal feuds
The feud between the UVF and the LVF began as an internal feud but quickly changed when Billy Wright established the LVF as a separate organisation. Beyond this the UVF has largely avoided violent internal strife, with only two killings that can be described as being part of an internal feud taking place on Belfast's Shankill Road in late November 1975, with Archibald Waller and Noel Shaw being the two men killed. Several months prior to these killings, Mid-Ulster BrigadierUVF Mid-Ulster Brigade
UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade formed part of the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force in Northern Ireland. The brigade was established in Lurgan, County Armagh in 1972 by its first commander Billy Hanna. The unit operated mainly around the Lurgan and Portadown areas. Subsequent leaders of the...
Billy Hanna
Billy Hanna
William Henry Wilson "Billy" Hanna MM was a high-ranking Northern Irish loyalist who founded and led the Mid-Ulster Brigade of the Ulster Volunteer Force until he was killed, allegedly by Robin Jackson, who took over command of the brigade.According to RUC Special Patrol Group officer John Weir,...
was shot dead outside his Lurgan
Lurgan
Lurgan is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is near the southern shore of Lough Neagh and in the north-eastern corner of the county. Part of the Craigavon Borough Council area, Lurgan is about 18 miles south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway...
home on 27 July 1975, allegedly by his successor, Robin Jackson
Robin Jackson
Robert John "Robin" Jackson, known as the Jackal was a Northern Irish loyalist who held the rank of brigadier in the Ulster Volunteer Force during the period of violent religious and political conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles.From his home in the small village of Donaghcloney,...
. This killing, however, was not part of a feud but instead carried out as a form of internal discipline from within the Mid-Ulster Brigade.
See also
- Timeline of Ulster Defence Association actionsTimeline of Ulster Defence Association actionsThis is a timeline of actions by the Ulster Defence Association , a loyalist paramilitary group formed in 1971. Most of these actions took place during the conflict known as "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland....
- Timeline of Ulster Volunteer Force actionsTimeline of Ulster Volunteer Force actionsThis is a timeline of actions by the Ulster Volunteer Force , a loyalist paramilitary group formed in 1966. It includes actions carried out by the Red Hand Commando , a group integrated into the UVF shortly after their formation in 1972. It also includes attacks claimed by the Protestant Action...
- Timeline of Loyalist Volunteer Force actions