[104] The Brigade Staff's former headquarters were situated in rooms above "The Eagle" chip shop located on the Shankill Road at its junction with Spier's Place. Spence was praised by, among others, PUP leader Brian Ervine, who stated that "his contribution to the peace is incalculable". What's he waiting for? [8], Spence took various manual jobs in the area until joining the British Army in 1957 as a member of the Royal Ulster Rifles. It declared a ceasefire in 1994 and officially ended its campaign in 2007, although some of its members have continued to engage in violence and criminal activities. The UVF's last major attack was the 1994 Loughinisland massacre, in which its members shot dead six Catholic civilians in a rural pub. LocationLa Habra, CA 90631 EmailGet a free estimate Call(562) 579-5980. He will be buried in Bangor after a funeral service on the Shankill Road. [46] Some of the new Brigade Staff members bore nicknames such as "Big Dog" and "Smudger". [84] The Progressive Unionist Party's condemnation, and Dawn Purvis and other leaders' resignations as a response to the Moffett shooting, were also noted. [99][100], On 4 March 2021, the UVF, Red Hand Commando and UDA renounced their current participation in the Good Friday Agreement. [76][77][78], In January 2008, the UVF was accused of involvement in vigilante action against alleged criminals in Belfast. [42], Spence was increasingly disillusioned with the UVF and he imparted these views to fellow inmates at Long Kesh. [11] He was also a member of the Royal Black Institution and the Apprentice Boys of Derry. Such retaliation was seen as both collective punishment and an attempt to weaken the IRA's support; it was thought that terrorising the Catholic community and inflicting such a death toll on it would force the IRA to end its campaign. The group concluded a general acceptance of the need to decommission, though there was no conclusive proof of moves towards this end. [123][124], The strength of the UVF is uncertain. Twenty tons of ammonium nitrate was also stolen from the Belfast docks.[40]. THE self described "old UVF man", Mr Gusty Spence (64), gave a brief oration at the funeral of Mr Jim Lynch (72), a former officer commanding (OC) of the IRA, at Cootehill, Co Cavan,. Afterwards a plot was concocted where his nephew Frankie Curry, also a UVF member, would drive Spence back to jail but the car would be stopped and Spence "kidnapped". The gang comprised, in addition to the UVF, rogue elements of the UDR, RUC, SPG, and the regular Army, all acting allegedly under the direction of the British Intelligence Corps and/or RUC Special Branch. However, the UVF spurned the government efforts and continued killing. Also, why did the author not probe the close relationship between Gusty Spence and the RHC? RT 2023. [10] Spence then found employment at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, where he worked as a stager (builder of the scaffolding in which the ships are constructed), a skilled job that commanded respect amongst working class Protestants and ensured for Spence a higher status within the Shankill. "The Dublin and Monaghan bombings: Cover-up and incompetence". In the 1960s, he founded the modern Ulster Volunteer Force, an organisation which was responsible for hundreds of sectarian murders during the Troubles. [125] Members were disciplined after they carried out an unsanctioned theft of 8 million of paintings from an estate in Co Wicklow in April 1974. Call now: (562) 579-5980. [101], In April 2021, riots erupted across Loyalist communities in Northern Ireland.[relevant? The group also carried out attacks in the Republic of Ireland from 1969 onward. Human error to blame for train crash - Greek PM, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. Birgen, Julia. That year, a string of tit-for-tat pub bombings began in Belfast. The funeral of 78-year-old Gusty Spence, the former leader of the UVF paramilitary organisation, has taken place in Belfast. [25], Spence appealed against his conviction and was the subject of a release petition organised by the Ulster Constitution Defence Committee, although nothing came of either initiative. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths crosstabulations", "UVF disbands unit linked to taxi murder", Law and order Belfast-style as two men are forced on a 'walk of shame', 'Report of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning', Twenty-Fourth Report of the Independent Monitoring Commission, "David Madine admits trying to kill loyalist Harry Stockman", "Police say UVF gunman seen in Rathcoole during trouble". Reverend Chris Hudson, who helped broker contacts between loyalist paramilitaries and the Irish government, said that aspect of the statement was significant. Hundreds of mourners have attended the funeral of the former loyalist leader Gusty Spence. 2023 BBC. "The untouchable informers facing exposure at last". [2] His brother Bobby, also a UVF member, died in October 1980 inside the Maze, a few months after the death of their brother Billy. Hawara: 'What happened was horrific and barbaric'. for a proxy bomb attack targeting a "peace-building" event in Belfast where Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney was speaking. Augustus Andrew "Gusty" Spence (28 June 1933 [2] - 25 September 2011) was a leader of the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and a leading loyalist politician in Northern Ireland. [50] The UVF was banned again on 3 October 1975 and two days later twenty-six suspected UVF members were arrested in a series of raids. They shot dead John Scullion (28), a Catholic civilian, as he walked home. In 1984, Gusty was released from prison, and became a leading figure in the Progressive Unionist Party and . The statement also included a warning that activities could "provoke another generation of loyalists toward armed resistance". The family of the former UVF leader Gusty Spence is planning a funeral with the emphasis on his British army past rather than his time in the paramilitary group. Spence is regarded as the first terrorist godfather in Northern Ireland but also the man who took the first steps towards ending UVF violence. Spence now argued that UVF members were soldiers and soldiers should not kill civilians, as had been the case at McGurk's Bar. Although O'Neill was a unionist, they saw him as being too 'soft' on the civil rights movement and too friendly with the Republic of Ireland. Wednesday, 15 February 2023 | 10.2 . [10] Whatever the truth of this intelligence, Gusty Spence's Shankill UVF team was made up of only around 12 men on its formation. Henry McDonald. [151] A Canadian branch of the UDA also existed and sent $30,000 to the UDA's headquarters in Belfast by 1975. He added: "He formed a relationship with Cardinal O'Fiach and that was in some of our ways of thinking in those days a big step because the Catholic church in particular were the enemy. Two UVF members, Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville, were accidentally killed by their own bomb while carrying out this attack. Ever Loved makes it easy to compare funeral homes, funeral parlors and mortuaries, so you can find the best fit. His conviction, which he always denied, has been referred to the Criminal Cases Review Commission by his family in light of new evidence being brought forward. We are heavily armed Protestants dedicated to this cause. The UVF launched further attacks in the Republic of Ireland during December 1972 and January 1973, when it detonated three car bombs in Dublin and one in Belturbet, County Cavan, killing a total of five civilians. Edward's son Ronnie was active in the Official IRA and then the INLA, serving a sentence on the INLA wing of the Maze prison while his uncle was on the UVF wing. Spence is regarded as the first terrorist godfather in Northern Ireland but also the man who took the first steps towards ending UVF violence. [39], Spence began to move towards a position of using political means to advance one's aims, and he persuaded the UVF leadership to declare a temporary ceasefire in 1973. This gang was led by Lenny Murphy. Veteran anti-UVF campaigner Raymond McCord, whose son, Raymond Jr., a Protestant, was beaten to death by UVF men in 1997, estimates the UVF has killed more than thirty people since its 1994 ceasefire, most of them Protestants. The vast majority (more than two-thirds)[9][10] of its victims were Irish Catholic civilians, who were often killed at random. [63], The UVF also attacked republican paramilitaries and political activists. Explosives for the north were mostly shipped in small boats which set out at night from the Scottish coast and made contact at sea with vessels from Ulster ports." Gusty Spence is regarded as one of the founders of loyalist paramilitarism, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. Bistir na Seanchille. [8], From an early age Spence was a member of the Prince Albert Temperance Loyal Orange Lodge, where fellow members included John McQuade. It was not in his later life. Mr Spence said last night he was an eternal optimist" where the present situation in the North was concerned. [120] However, from 1977 bombs largely disappeared from the UVF's arsenal owing to a lack of explosives and bomb-makers, plus a conscious decision to abandon their use in favour of more contained methods. He was sworn in soon afterwards in a ceremony held in secret near Pomeroy, County Tyrone. [54], Spence died on 25 September 2011, aged 78, in a Belfast hospital;[53] he had been suffering from a long-term illness and was admitted to hospital 12 days prior to his death. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. [40] These were all subordinate to the Brigade Staff. According to Billy Mitchell, Spence quizzed him and others sent to the Maze about why they were there, seeking an ideological answer to his question. [60], In the 1980s, the UVF was greatly reduced by a series of police informers. Stock photos, 360 images, vectors and videos Entdecke Gareth Mulvenna - Mein Leben in Loyalitt - Neues Taschenbuch - C245A in groer Auswahl Vergleichen Angebote und Preise Online kaufen bei eBay Kostenlose Lieferung fr viele Artikel! Bates was born into an Ulster Protestant family and grew up in the Shankill Road area of Belfast.He had a criminal record dating back to 1966, and later became a member of the Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisation, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). In keeping with his wishes,. "He also sent a letter of condolence to the widow of Joe McCann, an IRA man, praising him as a soldier of Ireland.". My experience of Gusty was as the whole man. Flanked by his PUP colleagues Jim McDonald and William Plum Smith, as well as Ulster Democratic Party members Gary McMichael, John White and Davy Adams, Spence read out the statement from Fernhill a former Cunningham family home on their former Glencairn estate in Belfast's Glencairn area. [citation needed]. [6] He was also a member of the Church Lads' Brigade, a Church of Ireland group and the Junior Orange Order. "He was really a role model for many young men who would follow.". The party's former leader Dawn Purvis told his funeral in the loyalist heartland of Belfasts Shankill Road that Mr Spence became involved in violence in the 1960s. [49], On 3 May 2007, Spence read out the statement by the UVF announcing that it would keep its weapons but put them beyond the reach of ordinary members. DeSantis won't say he's running. The UVF stated that the attempted attack was a protest against the Irish Army units "still massed on the border in County Donegal". Spence told Radio Ulster that the UVF had been "engaged in murder, attempted murder of civilians, attempted murder of police officers. Leading public figures were among the mourners, including former senior civil servant Maurice Hayes, former head of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission Monica McWilliams, and trade unionist Peter Bunting. He was born in the Shankill Road area of Belfast. As a lone piper led his funeral cortege through the area, the streets were lined by mourners. [93] Much of the UVF's orchestration was carried out by its senior members in East Belfast, where many attacks on the PSNI and on residents of the Short Strand enclave took place. Speaking from his home in Belfast last night, Mr Spence said he had become acquainted with Mr Lynch three or four years ago. While republicans were the expressed target, the attacks that followed were explicitly sectarian. Hanna and Jackson have both been implicated by journalist Joe Tiernan and RUC Special Patrol Group (SPG) officer John Weir as having led one of the units that bombed Dublin. Gusty Spence was a significant figure in loyalist Belfast for most of his life. Images Courtesy of Getty Images. It comprises high-ranking officers under a Chief of Staff or Brigadier-General. [58], The UVF's nickname is "Blacknecks", derived from their uniform of black polo neck jumper, black trousers, black leather jacket, black forage cap, along with the UVF badge and belt. A former leader of the UVF's political wing, the Progressive Unionist Party, described him as "one of the pivots on which a page of Irish history turned". [9] He was also associated loosely with prominent loyalists such as Ian Paisley and Desmond Boal and was advised by both men in 1959 when he launched a protest against Gerry Fitt at Belfast City Hall after Fitt had described Spence's regiment as "murderers" over allegations that they had killed civilians in Cyprus. [3] Spence Snr was a member of the Ulster Volunteers and had fought in the First World War. Others who attended included Jeanette Irvine, the widow of the former PUP Assembly member, David Ervine, Dawn Purvis, the former PUP Assembly member who resigned from the party over the UVF's activities and the former Assembly member and former Human Rights Commissioner, Monica Mc Williams. Gusty Spence funeral to have no . Read about our approach to external linking. The 78-year-old died in hospital at the weekend after a long illness. Gusty Spence received primary education at Riddell Memorial (1938-43) and Hemsworth Square (1943-7) public elementary schools, both in the Shankill area. She said: "Some people have said that in his later life, he changed to become committed to peace. After his release December 1984, Spence was a key figure in developing UVF thinking and indirectly its political wing, the Progressive Unionist Party. In the 1960s, he founded the modern Ulster Volunteer Force, an organisation which was responsible for hundreds of sectarian murders during the Troubles. Two of those later convicted (James McDowell and Thomas Crozier) were also serving members of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), a part-time, locally recruited regiment of the British Army. They were blamed by the PSNI on members of the UVF, who also said UVF guns had been used to try to kill police officers. Read about our approach to external linking. [31] Spence also took on responsibility for the restructuring, returning the UVF to the same command structure and organisational base that Edward Carson had utilised for the original UVF, with brigades, battalions, companies, platoons and sections. ][102] On 11 April, the UVF reportedly ordered the removal of Catholic families from a housing estate in Carrickfergus. He then became involved in politics and announced the landmark loyalist paramilitary ceasefires in 1994. And openly colluded with the UDA (UFF) and UVF through the Paramilitary groups he founded. Spence was initially held over the murder of the first victim of the Troubles, John Scullion, who was shot by the UVF in the Falls Road area of Belfast. The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group. Spence was initially held over the murder of the first victim of the Troubles, John Scullion, who was shot by the UVF in the Falls Road area of Belfast. In 1972, five Toronto businessmen shipped weapons in grain container ships out of Halifax, bound for ports in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland which were destined for loyalist militants. [13][14][15][16][17] The other main loyalist paramilitary group during the conflict was the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), which had a much larger membership. Openly paraded with the UVF and thanked Gusty Spence repeatedly for his services to Ulster. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British Army soldier from Northern Ireland. [151] On 10 February 1976, following the sudden uptick of violence against Catholic civilians by loyalist militants, Irish cardinal William Conway and nine other Catholic bishops met with British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and his cabinet, asking them as to where the loyalist militants had acquired guns, to which Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Merlyn Rees replied "Canada". This development came soon after the UVF's Brigade Staff in Belfast had stood down Wright and the Portadown unit of the Mid-Ulster Brigade, on 2 August 1996, for the killing of a Catholic taxi driver near Lurgan during Drumcree disturbances. [8] He was frequently involved in street fights with republicans and garnered a reputation as a "hard man". The report added that individuals, some current and some former members, in the group have, without the orders from above, continued to "localised recruitment", and although some continued to try and acquire weapons, including a senior member, most forms of crime had fallen, including shootings and assaults. Six of the victims were abducted at random, then beaten and tortured before having their throats slashed. It was responsible for more than 500 deaths. Independentie. [151][152] These shipments were considered enough for the UVF/UDA to wage its campaign, most of which were used to kill its victims. 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