William Moore
Encyclopedia
William Moore, often known as Billy Moore (1949 - 17 May 2009), was an Ulster loyalist
from Belfast
, Northern Ireland
. He was a member of the Shankill Butchers
, an Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gang. It was Moore who provided the black taxi and butcher knives which the gang used to carry out its killings.
in the Brown Bear pub on the Shankill Road. Murphy, who was assembling the gang that become known as the Shankill Butchers, recruited Moore into the Ulster Volunteer Force.
Beginning in November 1975, the gang started abducting and murdering Roman Catholics. Moore would drive around Catholic neighbourhoods in his black taxi looking for prospective victims. Murphy and the others would bundle victims into the back of the taxi and beat and torture them, before Murphy would finally drag them out into an alley and cut their throats with the weapons supplied by Moore. The following year Murphy was arrested and subsequently convicted of a firearms offence, and to divert suspicion from himself he ordered the "Butcher" slayings to continue. They did so, with Moore now acting as the leader. The gang also killed several rival loyalists
as a result of petty feuds, in addition to planting a bomb in Catholic neighbourhood during an IRA
parade. The bomb killed a 10-year-old boy, and wounded over 100 people.
never be released.http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19980811/ai_n14171537
Moore, however was released in 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement
after having served 19 years. It was alleged that Moore became involved in loyalist drug-deals, including a visit to a notorious Edinburgh
gang.
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 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...
, 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...
. He was a member of the Shankill Butchers
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...
, an Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gang. It was Moore who provided the black taxi and butcher knives which the gang used to carry out its killings.
Shankill Butchers
Moore, who had a few previous convictions for petty crime, had worked as a meat packer at Woodvale Meats in the Shankill, from which he had stolen various knives and meat-cleavers. He then started working as a taxi-driver. In 1975, Moore met Lenny MurphyLenny 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...
in the Brown Bear pub on the Shankill Road. Murphy, who was assembling the gang that become known as the Shankill Butchers, recruited Moore into the Ulster Volunteer Force.
Beginning in November 1975, the gang started abducting and murdering Roman Catholics. Moore would drive around Catholic neighbourhoods in his black taxi looking for prospective victims. Murphy and the others would bundle victims into the back of the taxi and beat and torture them, before Murphy would finally drag them out into an alley and cut their throats with the weapons supplied by Moore. The following year Murphy was arrested and subsequently convicted of a firearms offence, and to divert suspicion from himself he ordered the "Butcher" slayings to continue. They did so, with Moore now acting as the leader. The gang also killed several rival loyalists
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...
as a result of petty feuds, in addition to planting a bomb in Catholic neighbourhood during an IRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
parade. The bomb killed a 10-year-old boy, and wounded over 100 people.
Conviction and imprisonment
After a victim, Gerard McLaverty escaped alive, the RUC drove him around the Shankill Road area and he was able to identify two of his captors: Sam McAllister and Benjamin Edwards. The Shankill Butchers gang was subsequently rounded up by the police and most of the members broke down and confessed, although they were too terrified to name Lenny Murphy as the ringleader. They stood trial in February 1979 at the Belfast Crown Court. Moore pleaded guilty to the most murders - a total of eleven - and was convicted of these, plus a further eight murders. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with the trial judge, Lord Justice Turlough O'Donnell, recommending that he and co-accused Robert BatesRobert Bates (loyalist)
Robert William Bates was an Ulster loyalist from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force and the infamous Shankill Butchers gang, led by Lenny Murphy....
never be released.http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19980811/ai_n14171537
Moore, however was released in 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement
Belfast Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement or Belfast Agreement , sometimes called the Stormont Agreement, was a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process...
after having served 19 years. It was alleged that Moore became involved in loyalist drug-deals, including a visit to a notorious Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
gang.
Death
Reportedly never having expressed any remorse for the Butcher murders, Moore died in his home in the loyalist Mount Vernon area of north Belfast on 17 May 2009 as the result of a suspected heart attack. He was buried at Carnmoney Cemetery where Lenny Murphy also lies. Moore's grave is not far from that of one of his victims, Stephen McCann, a student whose throat he had personally cut. A press photographer covering his funeral on 21 May 2009 was attacked and beaten by a group of men, and received hospital treatment.Sources
- The Shankill Butchers, Martin DillonMartin DillonMartin 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....
, 1989 ISBN 0-415-92231-3 - Loyalists, Peter TaylorPeter Taylor (Journalist)Peter Taylor born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire is a British journalist and documentary-maker who had covered for many years the political and armed conflict in Northern Ireland, widely known as the Troubles...
, 1999, ISBN 0 7475 4519 7