[12] Due to his later involvement in a murder, Spence was expelled from the Orange Order and the Royal Black Institution. [108], The UVF's stated goal was to combat Irish republicanism particularly the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and maintain Northern Ireland's status as part of the United Kingdom. In October, UVF and UPV member Thomas McDowell was killed by the bomb he was planting at Ballyshannon power station. Save up to 70% with our image packs Pre-pay for multiple images and download on demand. While republicans were the expressed target, the attacks that followed were explicitly sectarian. [38] By this time Spence polarised opinion within the UVF, with some members fiercely loyal to a man they saw as a folk hero and others resenting his draconian leadership and increasing emphasis on politics, with one anonymous member even labelling him "a cunt in a cravat". [32] He was returned to Crumlin Road gaol soon afterwards, where he shared a cell with William "Plum" Smith, one of the Red Hand Commandos whom he had met upon his initial release and who had since been jailed for attempted murder. Slowly. In response to events in Derry, nationalists held protests throughout Northern Ireland, some of which became violent. Hundreds of mourners have attended the funeral of the former loyalist leader Gusty Spence. [70], There followed years of violence between the two organisations. The Shankill loyalists supported Kilfedder and following his election as MP sent a letter to Paisley accusing him of treachery during the entire affair. Ms Purvis encouraged young loyalists at the funeral to read the political doctrines encouraged by Mr Spence. "BBC News Man held over East Belfast police murder bid", "Surge in Belfast violence blamed on resurgent UVF", "The Beast from East Belfast could put an end to flags violence right now but he won't", "East Belfast UVF: Mission Accomplished? [118] In the late summer and autumn of 1973, the UVF detonated more bombs than the UDA and IRA combined,[119] and by the time of the group's temporary ceasefire in late November it had been responsible for over 200 explosions that year. He was sworn in soon afterwards in a ceremony held in secret near Pomeroy, County Tyrone. [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. [139] In 2002 the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee estimated the UVF's annual running costs at 12 million per year, against an annual fundraising capability of 1.5 million. 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. [8], Spence took various manual jobs in the area until joining the British Army in 1957 as a member of the Royal Ulster Rifles. Augustus Gusty Spence (78), was convicted for a sectarian murder in 1966 and was a figurehead of the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) which killed hundreds of people when the full violence of the Troubles began three years later. He had risen through its ranks to become a sergeant in the military police and the regiments flag was draped across his coffin. [47] Spence went on to become a leading advocate for the Good Friday Agreement. He was jailed for life for the murder of a Catholic barman in 1966 and served 18 years in prison. After his release December 1984, Spence was a key figure in developing UVF thinking and indirectly its political wing, the Progressive Unionist Party. While the only echoes of Mr Spences paramilitary past were the UVF murals that dotted his funeral route, a guard of honour was formed by veterans of his old British Army regiment, the Royal Ulster Rifles. He was shot dead by the IRA in November 1982, four months after his release from the Maze Prison. Human error to blame for train crash - Greek PM, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. [18][19] Some members have also been found responsible for orchestrating a series of racist attacks. Mr Spence argued for a ceasefire with republicans from as early as the mid-1970s and played a key role in encouraging young loyalists he met in prison to think of the reasons for their involvement in violence. Two Ulster Unionist Assembly members, Michael McGimpsey and Mike Neabitt, were among the mourners at the funeral. The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group. The new Brigade Staff's aim was to carry out attacks against known republicans rather than Catholic civilians. Sociologist Steven Bruce described the support networks in Canada as "the main source of support for loyalism outside the United Kingdom . 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. [125] Historically, the number of active UVF members in July 1971 was stated by one source to be no more than 20. Sun 25 Sep 2011 13.46 EDT. In incidents carried out within days of each other in June 1966, Mr Spences gang killed two Catholic men, plus a Protestant pensioner who was murdered in a failed attempt to burn a neighbouring Catholic-owned bar. In October 1975, after staging a counter-coup, the Brigade Staff acquired a new leadership of moderates with Tommy West serving as the Chief of Staff. It would continue these tactics for the rest of its campaign. [37] As the loyalist Maze commander, Spence initially also had jurisdiction over the imprisoned members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), although this came to an end in 1973 when, following a deterioration in relations between the two groups outside the prison walls, James Craig became the UDA's Maze commander. It used submachine guns, assault rifles, shotguns, pistols, grenades (including homemade grenades), incendiary bombs, booby trap bombs and car bombs. VideoRecord numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. [citation needed] The feud between the UVF and the LVF erupted again in the summer of 2005. [32] Spence gave his permission for UVF brigadier Billy Hanna to establish the UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade in Lurgan. Two members of the group survived the attack and later testified against those responsible. Eight people were shot dead and hundreds were injured. Almost 10 years later in October 1994, he was chosen to announce to the world that the main loyalist paramilitary groups, the UVF and the UDA, were declaring ceasefires in response to an IRA cessation. [54] The number of killings in Northern Ireland had decreased from around 300 per year between 1973 and 1976 to just under 100 in the years 19771981. 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. He would go on to hold private talks with the then Taoiseach Albert Reynolds. Video, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. Photograph: Peter Morrison/AP. "While the talks may be slow, they are the only glint on the horizon, he said. [153], The UVF have been implicated in drug dealing in areas from where they draw their support. Anderson, Malcolm & Bort, Eberhard (1999). Spence said loyalists offered "abject and true remorse" to the loved ones of all the innocent victims of the Troubles. [35], Spence's time on the outside came to an end on 4 November when he was captured by Colonel Derek Wilford of the Parachute Regiment, who identified Spence by tattoos on his hands. 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. "He was really a role model for many young men who would follow.". Video, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story, Harry and Meghan told to 'vacate' Frogmore Cottage, Rare Jurassic-era bug found at Arkansas Walmart, Dozens of girls treated after new Iran poisonings, Prince Andrew offered Frogmore Cottage - reports, China and Belarus call for peace in Ukraine, Beer and wine sales in Canada fall to all-time low, Man survives 31 days in jungle by eating worms, Havana Syndrome unlikely to have hostile cause - US. Spence is regarded as the first terrorist godfather in Northern Ireland but also the man who took the first steps towards ending UVF violence. [80], In the twentieth IMC report, the group was said to be continuing to put its weapons "beyond reach", (in the group's own words) to downsize, and reduce the criminality of the group. He read the loyalist ceasefire statement in 1994 and was asked to read the UVF weapons decommissioning statement, at the age of 74, in 2007. The weapons were Palestine Liberation Organisation arms captured by the Israelis and sold to Armscor, the South African state-owned company which, in defiance of a 1977 United Nations arms embargo, set about making South Africa self-sufficient in military hardware. The Mid-Ulster Brigade was also responsible for the 1975 Miami Showband killings, in which three members of the popular Irish cabaret band were shot dead at a bogus military checkpoint by gunmen in British Army uniforms. They shot John Scullion, a Catholic civilian, as he walked home. RT is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. Eleven years ago he was forced out of his home on the Shankill Road by Johnny Adair's gang during one of the many loyalist paramilitary feuds. 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