Tommy Herron
Encyclopedia
Tommy Herron was a loyalist
from Northern Ireland
, and a leading member of the Ulster Defence Association
(UDA) up until his fatal shooting. Herron controlled the UDA in East Belfast
, one of its two earliest strongholds. From 1972, he was the organisation's vice chairman and most prominent spokesperson, and was the first person to receive a salary from the UDA.
to a Protestant father and a Roman Catholic mother. According to Martin Dillon
Herron had in fact been baptised in St Anthony's Catholic Church on Belfast's Newtownards Road as a baby. Gusty Spence
has suggested that Herron, like Shankill Butcher
Lenny Murphy
, took on the mantle of a "Super Prod", or individual who acts in an affectedly extreme Protestant loyalist way, in order to deflect any potential criticism of his Catholic roots. He worked as a car salesman in East Belfast and was married to Hilary Wilson, by whom he had five children.
paramilitary
organisation in Northern Ireland, from its formation and emerged at the group's top man in East Belfast. A thirteen member Security Council was established in January 1972 with Herron a charter member of this group, although control lay in the west of city with Charles Harding Smith
emerging as chairman of the new body. Along with the likes of Billy Hull
Herron was one of a handful of UDA leaders to be invited to meetings with Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
William Whitelaw after the suspension of the Parliament of Northern Ireland
in March 1972 in an attempt to minimise bloodshed.
By this time Herron had come to see himself as the most powerful figure in the UDA and had begun to make statements on behalf of the movement unilaterally. In September 1972, the British Army
intervened to defend a Catholic area of Larne
against loyalists. Army vehicles ran down two civilians in East Belfast, one of whom was believed to be a UDA member. Under the name of the Ulster Citizen Army, Herron declared war
on the British Army. He called this off after two days of gunfire due to a lack of support, two more loyalists having been killed.
Herron's decision to go against the British Army, as brief as it was, as well as the looting and rioting that was taking place in Belfast under the direction of Herron and his close ally Jim Anderson
as a reaction to the loyalists deaths saw both his stock and that of the Belfast UDA fall somewhat locally. Protestant clergymen petitioned the UDA to end the street violence whilst middle class Protestants, as well as politicians such as Roy Bradford
, loudly condemned the attacks on the British Army, which traditionally enjoyed a high reputation amongst Northern Irish Protestants. On 20 October 1972 Herron sent word to Colonel Sandy Boswell, the army commander in Belfast, that the trouble would end and it was in relief that Herron left Belfast, in the company of Billy Hull, the following month to launch a tour of Canada
promoting loyalism.
, the leader of the West Belfast UDA
, was absent from the scene after being arrested in England on gun-running charges. During his absence control on West Belfast went into the hands of Davy Fogel
and his ally Ernie Elliott
, both of whom had been influenced to varying degrees by left-wing rhetoric. Whilst Herron was not involved in initiatives by both men that saw dialogue with the Catholic Ex-Servicemen's Association of Ardoyne
or the Official IRA
he did accompany them to a meeting with representatives of the British & Irish Communist Organisation which, unusually for communist groups, followed a staunchly unionist position with regards Northern Ireland.
Herron also garnered a reputation for his involvement in racketeering, something that Harding Smith had strongly condemned. In early 1973 an east Belfast publican was interviewed anonymously by The Sunday Times
and he claimed that Herron would regularly send one of his men to the pub to ask for a contribution to the "UDA prisoners' welfare fund". The publican stated that he knew if he refused to contribute his windows would be smashed or the pub shot at, making the fund simply a protection racket
. Herron was apparently asking as much as £50 per week from each pub with shop owners expected to pay half that amount.
After his return from England Harding Smith immediately clashed with Fogel but, somewhat surprisingly given their personal enmity, Herron sided with Harding Smith in the struggle. On 13 January 1973 Herron summoned Fogel to his east Belfast office and when Fogel arrived he was placed under arrest and detained for several hours. Herron told Fogel that he could only remain in charge of Woodvale if he agreed to accept Harding Smith's leadership in West Belfast as a whole. Fogel would leave Belfast altogether soon after this episode. In February, Herron called for a general strike
against the British Government's decision to introduce internment
for suspected loyalist parliamilitaries, mirroring the existing internment for suspected republican paramilitaries. This led to a day's fighting on the streets.
Soon after the meeting with Fogel, and to many people's surprise, Herron called for "both sides" - loyalists and republicans - to stop assassination
s, claiming that if they did not, they would face "the full wrath of the UDA". This temporarily halted killings in East Belfast. Herron's decision to stop the random killings, as well as his meeting with communists and rumours about his Catholic background, led to criticism within the UDA and he was criticised strongly in the pages of Ulster Militant, one of the UDA's publications at the time. Herron's position came under increasing pressure and, in an attempt to save face, he again threw his weight behind a new Harding Smith initiative. This time Harding Smith had decided to not only return to sectarian killings but to set up a group within the UDA, the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), to be dedicated solely to this aim. In the meantime Herron's leading hitman Walker Baker had already been sent back on sectarian killing duty, launching a grenade attack on Catholic workers in East Belfast before shooting up a bus of Catholics in the Cherryvalley area.
, was chosen in an effort to avert the war. Herron however remained in an unsafe position and on 15 June 1973 masked gunmen broke into his Braniel
home and shot and killed his brother-in-law, 18 year old Michael Wilson. Herron had been out of the house at the time but Michael Stone, a young UDA member who ran errands for Herron, had been near the house and afterwards asked Herron if he wanted him to kill a Provisional IRA (PIRA) member in retaliation. Herron told Stone "wrong side, kid" indicating that he believed the murder had been perpetrated by the rival faction of the UDA. According to Martin Dillon
the attack had been directed against Herron and had been ordered by Harding Smith, who hoped that it would be blamed on the PIRA. Certainly Harding Smith had made it clear in the summer of 1973 that he wanted Herron and the rest of the criminal element out of the UDA. Although Herron did not publicly speak about the killing he placed information in the press that he believed it had been the work of rivals within the UDA and also accused the UFF, and by extension Harding Smith, of being too close to the rival Ulster Volunteer Force
in these same news stories.
Herron was arrested in August 1973 under the terms of the Emergency Powers Act
and a considerable sum of money, reported to be between £2000 and £9000, was found in his coat. Herron was released soon afterwards but the story of the money was widely circulated in the press and it increased the growing discontent with his leadership in East Belfast, where many felt that he was increasingly using his role in the UDA to personally enrich himself. Herron's personality and actions also fed into this animosity. He was known for swaggering around in the style of a mafia don, visibly carrying his legally held handgun, as well as for his short temper and sudden changes in mood.
(VPUP) candidate in East Belfast at the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1973
. One of the founding principles of the UDA had been that it should not be tied to a single political party but Herron was an enthusiastic supporter of Bill Craig and when he established the VPUP Herron declared as UDA spokesman that "we will be supporting the new party 100% and using every means within our power to ensure its success".
Herron had argued that those who had joined or supported the UDA should be able to vote for its members although in the event Herron struggled to convert his reputation as a loyalist hard case into that of a political figure. Criticism came from Brian Faulkner
and other moderate unionists when on 10 June a UDA member exchanging gunfire with soldiers on the Beersbridge Road, East Belfast, shot and killed a Protestant bus driver. Herron's campaign was again hit in June when his East Belfast UDA headquarters were raided by the Royal Ulster Constabulary
(RUC) and two illegal guns and a quantity of ammunition were seized with two men arrested. He took 2,480 votes, but was not elected.
, County Antrim
. His death has often been ascribed to other members of the UDA, either in protest at his involvement in racketeering or as part of the ongoing feud, while the UDA itself has claimed that the Special Air Service
was responsible. It has even been suggested that local rival Ned McCreery
organised the killing in a dispute over money and had used a "honey trap
" to lure Herron to his death.
Herron received a paramilitary funeral which was presided over by Rev. Ian Paisley
. It was attended by 25,000 mourners. He was buried at Roselawn Cemetery as a piper played "Amazing Grace
".
Sammy McCormick
took over Herron's East Belfast Brigade and this much more low-key figure was tasked with returning a sense of discipline to the increasingly chaotic brigade.
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...
from 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...
, and a leading 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) up until his fatal shooting. Herron controlled the UDA in East 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...
, one of its two earliest strongholds. From 1972, he was the organisation's vice chairman and most prominent spokesperson, and was the first person to receive a salary from the UDA.
Early life
Herron was born in 1938 in Newcastle, County DownNewcastle, County Down
Newcastle is a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 7,444 people recorded in the 2001 Census. The seaside resort lies on the Irish Sea coast at the base of Slieve Donard, one of the Mourne Mountains, and is known for its sandy beach and the Royal County Down Golf Club...
to a Protestant father and a Roman Catholic mother. According to Martin Dillon
Martin Dillon
Martin Dillon is an author and journalist from Northern Ireland. He worked for eighteen years at the BBC and has written a number of plays and novels, but he is best known for his non-fiction books about the Troubles....
Herron had in fact been baptised in St Anthony's Catholic Church on Belfast's Newtownards Road as a baby. Gusty Spence
Gusty Spence
Augustus Andrew "Gusty" Spence was a leader of the Ulster Volunteer Force and a leading loyalist politician. One of the first UVF members to be convicted of murder, Spence was a senior figure in the organisation for over a decade but later renounced violence and joined the Progressive Unionist...
has suggested that Herron, like Shankill Butcher
Shankill Butchers
The Shankill Butchers is the name given to an Ulster loyalist gang, many of whom were members of the Ulster Volunteer Force . The gang conducted paramilitary activities during the 1970s in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was most notorious for its late-night kidnapping, torture and murder of random...
Lenny Murphy
Lenny Murphy
Hugh Leonard Thompson Murphy, who commonly went by the name Lenny , was an Ulster loyalist from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Murphy was a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force and leader of the infamous Shankill Butchers a gang which became notorious for its torture and murder of Catholic men...
, took on the mantle of a "Super Prod", or individual who acts in an affectedly extreme Protestant loyalist way, in order to deflect any potential criticism of his Catholic roots. He worked as a car salesman in East Belfast and was married to Hilary Wilson, by whom he had five children.
UDA leadership
Herron was a leading member of the UDA, which was the largest loyalistUlster 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....
organisation in Northern Ireland, from its formation and emerged at the group's top man in East Belfast. A thirteen member Security Council was established in January 1972 with Herron a charter member of this group, although control lay in the west of city with 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...
emerging as chairman of the new body. Along with the likes of Billy Hull
Billy Hull
Billy Hull was a loyalist activist in Northern Ireland.Hull worked at the Harland and Wolff engine shop in Belfast, and became the convenor of shop stewards there. He joined the Northern Ireland Labour Party, but resigned in 1969 in protest at the Northern Ireland policy of the British Labour Party...
Herron was one of a handful of UDA leaders to be invited to meetings with Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, informally the Northern Ireland Secretary, is the principal secretary of state in the government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Northern Ireland. The Secretary of State is a Minister of the Crown who is accountable to the Parliament of...
William Whitelaw after the suspension of the Parliament of Northern Ireland
Parliament of Northern Ireland
The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended...
in March 1972 in an attempt to minimise bloodshed.
By this time Herron had come to see himself as the most powerful figure in the UDA and had begun to make statements on behalf of the movement unilaterally. In September 1972, the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
intervened to defend a Catholic area of Larne
Larne
Larne is a substantial seaport and industrial market town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland with a population of 18,228 people in the 2001 Census. As of 2011, there are about 31,000 residents in the greater Larne area. It has been used as a seaport for over 1,000 years, and is...
against loyalists. Army vehicles ran down two civilians in East Belfast, one of whom was believed to be a UDA member. Under the name of the Ulster Citizen Army, Herron declared war
War
War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
on the British Army. He called this off after two days of gunfire due to a lack of support, two more loyalists having been killed.
Herron's decision to go against the British Army, as brief as it was, as well as the looting and rioting that was taking place in Belfast under the direction of Herron and his close ally Jim Anderson
Jim Anderson (loyalist)
James "Jim" Anderson was a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary who from April to December 1972 was the acting leader of the Ulster Defence Association while its commander and the founder of the organisation, Charles Harding Smith was in jail on remand for gun-running...
as a reaction to the loyalists deaths saw both his stock and that of the Belfast UDA fall somewhat locally. Protestant clergymen petitioned the UDA to end the street violence whilst middle class Protestants, as well as politicians such as Roy Bradford
Roy Bradford
Roy Hamilton Bradford was a Unionist politician in Northern Ireland and a government minister in both the Parliament of Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Assembly, 1973....
, loudly condemned the attacks on the British Army, which traditionally enjoyed a high reputation amongst Northern Irish Protestants. On 20 October 1972 Herron sent word to Colonel Sandy Boswell, the army commander in Belfast, that the trouble would end and it was in relief that Herron left Belfast, in the company of Billy Hull, the following month to launch a tour of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
promoting loyalism.
Herron and Harding Smith
For much of 1972 Herron's main rival Charles Harding SmithCharles Harding Smith
Charles Harding Smith was a loyalist leader in Northern Ireland and the first effective leader of the Ulster Defence Association...
, the leader of the West Belfast UDA
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...
, was absent from the scene after being arrested in England on gun-running charges. During his absence control on West Belfast went into the hands of Davy Fogel
Davy Fogel
David "Davy" Fogel also known as "Big Dave" , was a former loyalist and a leading member of the loyalist vigilante Woodvale Defence Association which later merged with other groups becoming the Ulster Defence Association...
and his ally Ernie Elliott
Ernie Elliott
Ernest "Ernie" Elliott , nicknamed "Duke", was a Northern Irish loyalist activist and a leading member of the Ulster Defence Association during its early days. Unusually for the generally right-wing UDA Elliott expressed admiration for socialism and communism and frequently quoted the words of Che...
, both of whom had been influenced to varying degrees by left-wing rhetoric. Whilst Herron was not involved in initiatives by both men that saw dialogue with the Catholic Ex-Servicemen's Association of Ardoyne
Ardoyne
Ardoyne is an Irish nationalist, working class and mainly Catholic district in north Belfast, Northern Ireland. It gained notoriety due to the large number of incidents during "The Troubles". It is home to approximately 20,000 inhabitants...
or the Official IRA
Official IRA
The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA is an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to create a "32-county workers' republic" in Ireland. It emerged from a split in the Irish Republican Army in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of "The Troubles"...
he did accompany them to a meeting with representatives of the British & Irish Communist Organisation which, unusually for communist groups, followed a staunchly unionist position with regards Northern Ireland.
Herron also garnered a reputation for his involvement in racketeering, something that Harding Smith had strongly condemned. In early 1973 an east Belfast publican was interviewed anonymously by The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
and he claimed that Herron would regularly send one of his men to the pub to ask for a contribution to the "UDA prisoners' welfare fund". The publican stated that he knew if he refused to contribute his windows would be smashed or the pub shot at, making the fund simply a protection racket
Protection racket
A protection racket is an extortion scheme whereby a criminal group or individual coerces a victim to pay money, supposedly for protection services against violence or property damage. Racketeers coerce reticent potential victims into buying "protection" by demonstrating what will happen if they...
. Herron was apparently asking as much as £50 per week from each pub with shop owners expected to pay half that amount.
After his return from England Harding Smith immediately clashed with Fogel but, somewhat surprisingly given their personal enmity, Herron sided with Harding Smith in the struggle. On 13 January 1973 Herron summoned Fogel to his east Belfast office and when Fogel arrived he was placed under arrest and detained for several hours. Herron told Fogel that he could only remain in charge of Woodvale if he agreed to accept Harding Smith's leadership in West Belfast as a whole. Fogel would leave Belfast altogether soon after this episode. In February, Herron called for a general strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
against the British Government's decision to introduce internment
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...
for suspected loyalist parliamilitaries, mirroring the existing internment for suspected republican paramilitaries. This led to a day's fighting on the streets.
Soon after the meeting with Fogel, and to many people's surprise, Herron called for "both sides" - loyalists and republicans - to stop assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
s, claiming that if they did not, they would face "the full wrath of the UDA". This temporarily halted killings in East Belfast. Herron's decision to stop the random killings, as well as his meeting with communists and rumours about his Catholic background, led to criticism within the UDA and he was criticised strongly in the pages of Ulster Militant, one of the UDA's publications at the time. Herron's position came under increasing pressure and, in an attempt to save face, he again threw his weight behind a new Harding Smith initiative. This time Harding Smith had decided to not only return to sectarian killings but to set up a group within the UDA, the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), to be dedicated solely to this aim. In the meantime Herron's leading hitman Walker Baker had already been sent back on sectarian killing duty, launching a grenade attack on Catholic workers in East Belfast before shooting up a bus of Catholics in the Cherryvalley area.
Fall from grace
In the summer of 1973 it was decided to choose a chairman of the UDA after the resignation of joint chairman Jim Anderson, who shared his duties with Harding Smith but who had been effective leader during the latter's absence, had left a power vacuum. Fears were raised that the issue might bring about the much feared Harding Smith and Herron feud but in the end a compromise candidate, Andy TyrieAndy Tyrie
Andrew "Andy" Tyrie is an Ulster loyalist and served as commander of the Ulster Defence Association during much of its early history...
, was chosen in an effort to avert the war. Herron however remained in an unsafe position and on 15 June 1973 masked gunmen broke into his Braniel
Braniel
Braniel, is a large housing estate in East Belfast, Northern Ireland. Two small estates, Roddens and Glenview are located in the area, and are often referred to the Braniel. It is a predominantly Protestant area, with the majority of residents being loyalist or unionist...
home and shot and killed his brother-in-law, 18 year old Michael Wilson. Herron had been out of the house at the time but Michael Stone, a young UDA member who ran errands for Herron, had been near the house and afterwards asked Herron if he wanted him to kill a Provisional IRA (PIRA) member in retaliation. Herron told Stone "wrong side, kid" indicating that he believed the murder had been perpetrated by the rival faction of the UDA. According to Martin Dillon
Martin Dillon
Martin Dillon is an author and journalist from Northern Ireland. He worked for eighteen years at the BBC and has written a number of plays and novels, but he is best known for his non-fiction books about the Troubles....
the attack had been directed against Herron and had been ordered by Harding Smith, who hoped that it would be blamed on the PIRA. Certainly Harding Smith had made it clear in the summer of 1973 that he wanted Herron and the rest of the criminal element out of the UDA. Although Herron did not publicly speak about the killing he placed information in the press that he believed it had been the work of rivals within the UDA and also accused the UFF, and by extension Harding Smith, of being too close to the rival Ulster Volunteer Force
Ulster Volunteer Force
The Ulster Volunteer Force is a loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in late 1965 or early 1966 and named after the Ulster Volunteer Force of 1913. The group's volunteers undertook an armed campaign of almost thirty years during The Troubles...
in these same news stories.
Herron was arrested in August 1973 under the terms of the Emergency Powers Act
Emergency Powers Act (Northern Ireland) 1926
The Emergency Powers Act 1926 was an Act of the Parliament of Northern Ireland that was passed for the purpose of making provision for the protection of the community in Northern Ireland in cases of emergency....
and a considerable sum of money, reported to be between £2000 and £9000, was found in his coat. Herron was released soon afterwards but the story of the money was widely circulated in the press and it increased the growing discontent with his leadership in East Belfast, where many felt that he was increasingly using his role in the UDA to personally enrich himself. Herron's personality and actions also fed into this animosity. He was known for swaggering around in the style of a mafia don, visibly carrying his legally held handgun, as well as for his short temper and sudden changes in mood.
Politics
Despite narrowly missing death Herron was also involved in a political campaign as he was the candidate for the Vanguard Progressive Unionist PartyVanguard Progressive Unionist Party
The Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party , informally known as Ulster Vanguard, was a unionist political party which existed in Northern Ireland between 1973 and 1978...
(VPUP) candidate in East Belfast at the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1973
Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1973
-Seats summary:-Source:* http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/fa73.htm...
. One of the founding principles of the UDA had been that it should not be tied to a single political party but Herron was an enthusiastic supporter of Bill Craig and when he established the VPUP Herron declared as UDA spokesman that "we will be supporting the new party 100% and using every means within our power to ensure its success".
Herron had argued that those who had joined or supported the UDA should be able to vote for its members although in the event Herron struggled to convert his reputation as a loyalist hard case into that of a political figure. Criticism came from Brian Faulkner
Brian Faulkner
Arthur Brian Deane Faulkner, Baron Faulkner of Downpatrick, PC was the sixth and last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland from March 1971 until his resignation in March 1972...
and other moderate unionists when on 10 June a UDA member exchanging gunfire with soldiers on the Beersbridge Road, East Belfast, shot and killed a Protestant bus driver. Herron's campaign was again hit in June when his East Belfast UDA headquarters were raided by 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...
(RUC) and two illegal guns and a quantity of ammunition were seized with two men arrested. He took 2,480 votes, but was not elected.
Death
Herron was kidnapped in September and killed with one gunshot to the head. His body was found in a ditch near DrumboDrumbo
Drumbo is a small village and townland in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It lies about south of Belfast city centre, east of Lisburn and west of Carryduff. The 2001 Census recorded the village's population as being 408....
, County Antrim
County Antrim
County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,844 km², with a population of approximately 616,000...
. His death has often been ascribed to other members of the UDA, either in protest at his involvement in racketeering or as part of the ongoing feud, while the UDA itself has claimed that the Special Air Service
Special Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
was responsible. It has even been suggested that local rival Ned McCreery
Ned McCreery
Edward "Ned" McCreery was a Northern Irish loyalist. A leading member of the Ulster Defence Association , he was notorious for the use of torture in his killings...
organised the killing in a dispute over money and had used a "honey trap
Seduction
In social science, seduction is the process of deliberately enticing a person to engage. The word seduction stems from Latin and means literally "to lead astray". As a result, the term may have a positive or negative connotation...
" to lure Herron to his death.
Herron received a paramilitary funeral which was presided over by Rev. Ian Paisley
Ian Paisley
Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC is a politician and church minister in Northern Ireland. As the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party , he and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness were elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively on 8 May 2007.In addition to co-founding...
. It was attended by 25,000 mourners. He was buried at Roselawn Cemetery as a piper played "Amazing Grace
Amazing Grace
"Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn with words written by the English poet and clergyman John Newton , published in 1779. With a message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of the sins people commit and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God,...
".
Sammy McCormick
Sammy McCormick
Samuel "Sammy" McCormick was a Northern Irish loyalist who served from 1973 until the 1980s as the brigadier for the Ulster Defence Association's East Belfast Brigade...
took over Herron's East Belfast Brigade and this much more low-key figure was tasked with returning a sense of discipline to the increasingly chaotic brigade.