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183-660: The UDA South Belfast Brigade is the section of the Ulster loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), based in the southern quarter of Belfast , as well as in surrounding areas. Initially a battalion, the South Belfast Brigade emerged from the local "defence associations" active in the city at the beginning of the Troubles . It subsequently emerged as the largest of

366-594: A Sinn Féin activist, at his home in Cookstown . Although somewhat removed from South Belfast, this killing was part of a wider expansion of the South Belfast Brigade which by the early 1990s had expanded into Mid- Ulster , where a brigade had existed on and off but had become moribund. South Belfast Brigade teams were based in South Down , County Tyrone , Lurgan and on the border at County Fermanagh , as well as Cookstown. With these teams, Upper Ormeau, Lisburn and

549-613: A loyalist feud . Robert "Basher" Bates had been a member of the notorious Shankill Butchers and one of his killings had been that of UDA member James Curtis Moorhead, with whom he had got into an argument in a Shankill bar in 1977. Having become a born-again Christian , Bates was released from prison and took a job at the Ex-Prisoners Interpretative Centre on the Woodvale Road. Whilst outside

732-588: A series of car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan , in the Republic. This killed 34 civilians, making it the deadliest attack of the Troubles. The strike brought down the agreement and power-sharing government. Loyalists were involved in the major protest campaign against the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement . They saw it as a breach of sovereignty, because it gave the Republic an advisory role in some Northern Ireland affairs. The many street protests led to loyalist clashes with

915-515: A "rompering" (UDA slang term for a torture session followed by a fatal beating) at a kangaroo court . Ogilby had been having an affair with a married UDA commander, William Young, who prior to his internment , had made her pregnant. His wife, Elizabeth Young, was a member of the Sandy Row women's UDA unit. Ogilby had made defamatory remarks against Elizabeth Young in public regarding food parcels. Eight weeks after Ogilby had given birth to their son,

1098-450: A UDA club and "romper room". After Sharlene was sent by Graham to a shop to buy sweets, Ogilby was made to sit on a bench and a hood placed over her head. Two teenagers, Henrietta Cowan and Christine Smith, acting on the orders previously given them by the unit's leader, Elizabeth "Lily" Douglas, proceeded to savagely beat Ogilby to death with bricks and sticks. As Ogilby screamed and pleaded for her life, Sharlene, who had already returned from

1281-543: A UDA club in the area and began waving a gun about, with the weapon discharging during a struggle when others attempted to disarm him. Another "rompering" death was also carried out in the area in July 1974 when a 32-year-old Protestant single mother Ann Ogilby was killed by a UDA women's unit based in the area. Ogilby's interned boyfriend William Young was the local commander of the Donegall Pass UDA which came under

1464-497: A UDA rally was held in Sandy Row at which it was announced that the South Belfast Brigade's war was over and that "the ballot box and the political institutions must be the greatest weapons", with McDonald declaring his support for the work of the Ulster Political Research Group . In 2012 McDonald faced criticism from the wider UDA and from within his own brigade after being photographed in attendance at

1647-591: A brigade in an area where sectarian tensions were growing as the Catholic population of South Belfast had increased significantly and as a result more interface areas had sprung up. In this climate the South Belfast Brigade, and in particular its Upper Ormeau members based in the Annadale flats, was to once again take a leading role in sectarian killings. Dominated by Joe Bratty , Thomas "Tucker" Annett, Raymond Elder and Stephen "Inch" McFerran, this group carried out

1830-471: A brothel. When Ogilby had publicly denounced the women's UDA over the food parcels, she was not fully aware of Douglas' violent character and the considerable amount of authority she wielded in Sandy Row. On 23 July 1974, eight weeks after Ogilby gave birth to a premature son, Derek, fathered by Young, five UDA women, including her lover's wife Elizabeth Young (32), Kathleen Whitla (49, the second-in-command), Josephine Brown (18), Elizabeth Douglas (19), led by

2013-696: A ceasefire. McFerran, who was later revealed to have been an RUC Special Branch agent, was one of those who participated in the killing of Annett. The 1994 killings of Bratty and Elder saw an upswing in South Belfast Brigade activity as they carried out a number of "revenge" killings against Catholic targets. Nonetheless, after the IRA ceasefire the UDA followed suit with the Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC) ceasefire, declared on 13 October 1994. As South Belfast brigadier, Alex Kerr

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2196-606: A chapter to the Ann Ogilby murder in his 1999 book Murder Madness: True Crimes of The Troubles , instead affirmed that Ogilby was forced by her captors to sit on a wooden bench. Although hooded and blindfolded, her hands remained untied. Acting under earlier instructions by Douglas, who had remained downstairs, to give Ogilby a "good rompering", two members of the "Heavy Squad", teenagers Henrietta Piper Cowan (17) and Christine Smith (16), both of whom were wearing masks, proceeded to attack Ogilby. Cowan punched her forcefully in

2379-405: A combined Sandy Row/Village unit all active, the brigade was rivalled only by West Belfast in terms of ruthlessness in the early 1990s. The Village unit carried out the killing of a Catholic taxi driver, John O'Hara, on 17 April 1991, as part of a new UDA-wide policy of ringing known Catholic taxi firms to book a taxi and then shooting the driver when they arrived. A notorious Lisburn hitman, known by

2562-402: A date that has not been firmly established. She was one of 13 children from a poor family. Described as a "very attractive girl with dark-brown silky hair and blue eyes", and a slender figure, she embarked on a transient lifestyle, regularly changing her address and employment. The jobs she held were mostly low-paid positions in offices and shops, and she was often evicted for failing to pay

2745-597: A drink with Lily Douglas to whom they recounted the details of the fatal beating as she had remained on the ground floor the entire time. Afterwards, Cowan and Smith got dressed up and went out to the disco as planned. Douglas arranged for the body's disposal and unnamed UDA men later loaded it onto a van and dumped it in a ditch in Stockman's Lane near the M1 motorway . It was discovered five days later on 29 July by motorway maintenance men. The RUC were immediately called to

2928-502: A great deal of control over the lives of other women within the area that included intimidation and moral policing. The middle of three daughters, Douglas was born and raised in an impoverished working-class family. She married at the age of 17 and had four children. By 1974, Douglas (aged 40) who lived in a terraced house in Sandy Row's City Street had a criminal record dating back over ten years for various offences which included smuggling, forgery, assault, inflicting bodily harm and running

3111-617: A group was the Donegall Road defence committee, although in contrast to the likes of the Shankill Defence Association in the west of the city, this group was loyal to Ian Paisley . According to one unidentified founder member of the group, the meeting that saw the establishment of the UDA at Aberdeen Street Primary School on the Shankill Road in 1971 was not attended by any groups from the south of

3294-582: A gun attack on the Ormeau Road. Other killings that the group carried out included that of Michael Gilbride, a Catholic taxi driver who had settled in the Lower Ormeau area but who was killed outside his parents' home on Fernwood Street, not far from Bratty's Annadale Flats base. Donna Wilson, a Protestant and resident of Annadale Flats who had recently moved to the area from Tullycarnet in Dundonald

3477-533: A night out at the Club Bar, a popular student and bohemian venue near Queen's University Belfast . Two months later a unit from Sandy Row shot and killed a bouncer from the same bar, which was Catholic-owned but entertained a mixed clientele. Similar attacks continued into 1975, with a Sandy Row gunman killing a young Catholic builder on nearby Great Victoria Street, before another attack by the Sandy Row unit on 9 February when they entered St Bride's Catholic Church on

3660-502: A number of killings in the early 1990s. Emmanuel Shields, a Catholic civilian who lived close to the Annadale flats and who was known personally to members of the Upper Ormeau UDA, was killed at his home on 7 September 1990. Shields had been beaten by future members of Bratty's team when they were children and had escaped a shooting attack at his mother's home years earlier. In 1990 South Belfast members also killed Tommy Casey,

3843-476: A paramilitary campaign to force a British withdrawal from Northern Ireland. Loyalist paramilitaries attacked the Catholic community as alleged retaliation for IRA actions, and the vast majority of their victims were random Catholic civilians. During the Troubles there were incidents where British security forces colluded with loyalist paramilitaries , such as the attacks by the Glenanne group . Signed in 1973,

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4026-685: A poem, Gang-Bang Ulster Style , based on the Ogilby killing. It was published in the August 1989, no. 204 edition of Spare Rib . Ann Ogilby's murder also featured in a Gavin Ewart poem entitled, The Gentle Sex (1974). The murder was investigated by the Historical Enquiries Team (HET), which was established by the PSNI to inquire into the most controversial killings perpetrated during

4209-572: A republican front. Loyalist opposition was led primarily by Ian Paisley , a Protestant fundamentalist preacher. They held counter-protests, attacked civil rights marches, and put pressure on moderate unionists. Loyalist militants carried out false flag bombings that were blamed on republicans and civil rights activists. This unrest led to the August 1969 riots . Irish nationalists/republicans clashed with both police and with loyalists, who burned hundreds of Catholic homes and businesses. The riots led to

4392-552: A reputation for the unruly and drunken nature of its members with a "day of action" on 7 February 1973 organised by the Ulster Vanguard and the Loyalist Association of Workers descending into chaos in the area. With few becoming involved in a proposed withdrawal of labour, the local UDA undertook a series of assaults and car burnings, before setting fire to a shop on the corner of Sandy Row. They then shot at

4575-462: A safe house where members of C Company could defect back to the mainstream UDA. At around 1 am on 6 February 2003, about 100 heavily armed UDA members invaded the lower Shankill and set upon the twenty or so members of C Company who had remained loyal to Adair. his family and his close ally John White , ending his spell in charge on the Shankill. Several weeks later McDonald organised a "battle of

4758-479: A series of killings of both republican political activists and other Catholic civilians. John McMichael was killed by a bomb attached to his car outside his Hilden Court home, in Lisburn's loyalist Hilden estate, on 22 December 1987, shortly before his fortieth birthday. He was on his way to deliver Christmas turkeys to the families of loyalist prisoners. At 8:20 pm , after he had turned on the ignition of his car and

4941-599: A showdown, with McDonald taking charge of the anti-Adair faction. McDonald quickly got word to A and B Company of the West Belfast UDA , covering the Highfield estate and Woodvale areas of the Greater Shankill and nominally under Adair's command, that Adair was to be removed and secured the loyalty of these two groups. He also told them to set up an office on the Shankill's Heather Street Social Club as

5124-581: A similar fate in other parts of the city. Murphy brought in a force of UDA members to prevent this and a stand-off ensued between the UDA and the Catholic would-be residents, with the British Army also in attendance. After a while the Catholics began throwing stones at the UDA. Soon IRA snipers entered the fray and a gun battle between the republicans and the British Army ensued. The UDA eventually withdrew. While Murphy believed his plan for bringing down

5307-570: A team based in Taughmonagh that had the job of organising a fire-bombing campaign against shops and businesses in the Republic of Ireland. On 7 February 1987 this group detonated two bombs in Dublin and Donegal, causing £2 million worth of damage and garnering wide coverage in the Republic's media. In a return to more basic sectarian killings, the South Belfast Brigade also added former East Belfast Brigade member Michael Stone to its ranks. Acting directly under McMichael's command, Stone carried out

5490-1055: A total membership of around 30,000, an all-time high. According to the Parades Commission, a total of 1,354 loyalist parades (not counting funerals) were held in Northern Ireland in 2007. The Police Service of Northern Ireland uses different statistics, and recorded a total of 2,863 parades in 2007. Of these, 2,270 (approximately 80%) were held by loyalist marching bands. [REDACTED] Category Does not include organisations focused on Unionism which do not mention British nationalism in their official makeup. Does not include organisations supportive of Unionism or Scottish independence without mentioning nationalism in their official makeup. Does not include organisations supportive of Unionism or Welsh independence without mentioning nationalism in their official makeup. Murder of Ann Ogilby 1980s 1990s The murder of Ann Ogilby , also known as

5673-666: Is justified?" In Northern Ireland there are a number of Protestant fraternities and marching bands who hold yearly parades. They include the Orange Order and Apprentice Boys of Derry . These fraternities, often described as the "Loyal Orders", have long been associated with unionism/loyalism. Yearly events such as the Eleventh Night (11 July) bonfires and The Twelfth (12 July) parades are strongly associated with loyalism. A report published in 2013 estimated there were at least 640 marching bands in Northern Ireland with

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5856-616: Is rejected by Peter Taylor , who argues that as the rackets were profiting the brigade as a whole (as "chief collector" Craig was entitled to a percentage of everything) there was no desire amongst the brigade leadership to cut off this source of revenue. Nonetheless, a number of arrests were made relating to the brigade's rackets and in January 1990 a number of sentences were handed down to several of Craig's former associates, with Jackie McDonald sentenced to ten years imprisonment for blackmail, intimidation and making threats to kill. Following

6039-548: Is standard within the UDA whilst in custody Bunting had to relinquish his role as brigadier although his replacement, a close friend of McDonald's from Taughmonagh identified only as the "Burger King Brigadier" due to his weight, has been reported as merely a figurehead with no actual power. In September 2014 it was reported in the Belfast Telegraph that the leaders of the UDA in North, East and South Belfast, as well as

6222-589: Is usually associated with paramilitarism . Ulster loyalism emerged in the late 19th century, in reaction to the Irish Home Rule movement and the rise of Irish nationalism . Ireland had a Catholic majority who wanted self-government, but the province of Ulster had a Protestant and unionist majority, largely due to the Plantation of Ulster . Although not all unionists were Protestant, loyalists emphasised their British Protestant heritage. During

6405-585: The News Letter , a Belfast-based newspaper with a unionist editorial stance, sought the view of the Protestant community on a recent upsurge in loyalist paramilitary violence . The poll found that 42 per cent of callers responded "Yes" to the question: "Do you support loyalist paramilitary violence?" Over 50 per cent of callers chose "Yes" in response to the question "Do you believe there are any current circumstances in which loyalist paramilitary violence

6588-676: The Donegall Road becoming another centre of activity. A hit team was established here and in January 1973 they carried out four murders of Catholic youths from nearby West Belfast in quick succession. The youngest victim, Peter Watterson (aged 15), was mortally wounded in a drive-by shooting outside his mother's shop on the Falls Road/Donegall Road junction. Soon afterwards however the IRA retaliated by capturing local commander Francis "Hatchet" Smith in Roden Street, close to his home, and fatally shooting him. With Smith dead,

6771-535: The Glenanne gang ), giving weapons and intelligence to loyalists, not taking action against them, and hindering official investigations. The modus operandi of loyalist paramilitaries involved assassinations, mass shootings, bombings and kidnappings. They used sub machine-guns , assault rifles , pistols , grenades (including homemade grenades), incendiary bombs , booby trap bombs and car bombs . Bomb attacks were usually made without warning. However, gun attacks were more common than bombings. In January 1994,

6954-711: The Greysteel massacre by the UDA and Loughinisland massacre by the UVF. The main loyalist paramilitary groups called a ceasefire in 1994, shortly after the Provisional IRA's ceasefire and beginning of the Northern Ireland peace process . This ceasefire came under strain during the Drumcree dispute of the mid-to-late 1990s. The Protestant Orange Order was blocked from marching its traditional route through

7137-733: The Home Rule Crisis (1912–14), loyalists founded the paramilitary Ulster Volunteers to prevent Ulster from becoming part of a self-governing Ireland. This was followed by the Irish War of Independence (1919–21) and partition of Ireland : most of Ireland became an independent state, while most of Ulster remained within the UK as the self-governing territory of Northern Ireland. During partition, communal violence raged between loyalists and Irish nationalists in Belfast , and loyalists attacked

7320-580: The Irish Volunteers to ensure home rule was implemented. Home rule was postponed by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Both loyalists and nationalists fought in the war , with many Ulster Volunteers joining the 36th (Ulster) Division . By the end of the war, most Irish nationalists wanted full independence. After winning most Irish seats in the 1918 general election , Irish republicans declared an Irish Republic , leading to

7503-648: The Irish War of Independence between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and British forces. Meanwhile, the Fourth Home Rule Bill passed through the British parliament in 1920. It would partition Ireland into two self-governing polities within the UK: a Protestant-majority Northern Ireland , and a Catholic-majority Southern Ireland . During 1920–22, in what became Northern Ireland, partition

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7686-729: The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), attacked Catholics over a two-year period before calling a ceasefire. Loyalist representatives had helped negotiate the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, and it was backed by the UVF-linked Progressive Unionist Party and UDA-linked Ulster Democratic Party . However, wider loyalist support for the Agreement was tenuous from the outset, and these parties received many fewer votes than

7869-542: The Malone Road , a popular target for vandalism attacks by local loyalist youths, and killed two students in attendance. These killings helped to set off a bloody period over the following two years when both republican and loyalist paramilitary groups were highly active in tit-for-tat sectarian killings. With South Belfast formalised as a brigade, Lisburn-based John McMichael emerged as the brigadier and, due to his closeness to UDA leader Andy Tyrie , soon became one of

8052-589: The Maze Prison . According to Ian S. Wood, the UDA's commander Andy Tyrie had not sufficient control over the many units that comprised the UDA to have been able to prevent the punishment beating from being carried out. A spokesman for the UDA released a statement condemning the killing and the women's unit that carried it out which was first published in the Irish Times on 8 February 1975: We have completely disowned them [Sandy Row women's UDA]. We think

8235-819: The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), whom loyalists accused of enforcing the Agreement and betraying the Protestant community. This caused a rift between loyalists and the police, and there were numerous loyalist attacks on police officers' homes during the protests. From the late 1980s, there was a rise in loyalist paramilitary violence, partly due to anger over the Anglo-Irish Agreement. It also resulted from loyalist groups being re-armed with weapons smuggled from South Africa, overseen by British Intelligence agent Brian Nelson . From 1992 to 1994, loyalists carried out more killings than republicans. The deadliest attacks during this period were

8418-539: The South Belfast UDA and was referred to as a community leader in the British Army's press releases although his name and paramilitary affiliation were not mentioned. To defuse the explosive situation, Murphy engaged in talks with the Army which proved successful. According to journalists Henry McDonald and Jim Cusack, the Sandy Row and Donegall Pass UDA were almost completely out of control by this time; both

8601-612: The Sunningdale Agreement sought to end the conflict by establishing power-sharing government between unionists and Irish nationalists, and ensuring greater co-operation with the Republic of Ireland. In protest, loyalists organised the Ulster Workers' Council strike in May 1974. It was enforced by loyalist paramilitaries and brought large parts of Northern Ireland to a standstill. During the strike, loyalists detonated

8784-668: The Third Home Rule Bill in 1912 sparked the Home Rule Crisis . Ulster unionists signed the Ulster Covenant , pledging to oppose Irish home rule by any means. They founded a large paramilitary force, the Ulster Volunteers , threatening to violently resist the authority of any Irish government over Ulster. The Ulster Volunteers smuggled thousands of rifles and rounds of ammunition into Ulster from Imperial Germany . In response, Irish nationalists founded

8967-539: The deployment of British troops and are often seen as the beginning of the Troubles . The beginning of the Troubles saw a revival of loyalist paramilitaries , notably the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Ulster Defence Association (UDA). Their stated goals were to defend Protestant areas, to fight those they saw as "enemies of Ulster" (namely republicans), and thwart any step towards Irish unification . The Provisional Irish Republican Army waged

9150-505: The getaway driver for the attack in which Teresa Clinton, the wife of a Sinn Féin election candidate, was murdered in her lower Ormeau home. Thomas Annett, who was the main gunman in the Clinton killing, was killed in 1996 on 12 July when he got into a row with fellow UDA members outside an Ormeau Road bar and ended up being kicked to death. Bratty and Elder were ultimately killed by the IRA on 31 July 1994, shortly before its declaration of

9333-489: The "Romper Room murder", took place in Sandy Row , south Belfast , Northern Ireland on 24 July 1974. It was a punishment killing, carried out by members of the Sandy Row women's Ulster Defence Association (UDA) unit. At the time the UDA was a legal Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisation. The victim, Ann Ogilby, a Protestant single mother of four, was beaten to death by two teenaged girls after being sentenced to

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9516-652: The "romper rooms". Despite the UDA women having found Ogilby guilty, the two UDA men present at the "trial" couldn't reach a verdict and gave orders that she be released. The women drove her to the Glengall Street bus station where she got on a bus headed for the YWCA hostel she had moved to on the Malone Road . The women then "rearrested" her. It was alleged that this decision came about after she sarcastically remarked in reference to Douglas, "Who does she think she is? The Queen?" which had freshly infuriated Douglas and

9699-532: The 17-year-old beaten severely before being shot. The brigade was also active during the Ulster Workers' Council strike of 1974, with the Village team killing a Catholic university student, Michael Mallon, at the height of strike. Sammy Murphy and the Sandy Row UDA took a belligerent stance during the strike. They almost came to direct confrontation with the British Army over the removal of UDA roadblocks in

9882-430: The 1973 Sunningdale Agreement and 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement . The paramilitaries called ceasefires in 1994 and their representatives were involved in negotiating the 1998 Good Friday Agreement . Since then, loyalists have been involved in protests against perceived threats to their cultural identity. Sections of the loyalist paramilitaries have attacked Catholics, taken part in loyalist feuds , and withdrawn support for

10065-508: The 1990s, loyalist paramilitaries have been responsible for numerous racist attacks in loyalist areas. A 2006 report revealed that 90% of racist attacks in the previous two years occurred in mainly loyalist areas. In the 1990s, the main loyalist paramilitaries called ceasefires . Following this, small breakaway groups continued to wage violent campaigns for a number of years, and members of loyalist groups have continued to engage in sporadic violence. A telephone poll conducted in March 1993 by

10248-495: The Agreement, although their campaigns have not resumed. In Northern Ireland there is a tradition of loyalist Protestant marching bands , who hold numerous parades each year. The yearly Eleventh Night (11 July) bonfires and The Twelfth (12 July) parades are associated with loyalism. The term loyalist was first used in Irish politics in the 1790s to refer to Protestants who opposed Catholic Emancipation and Irish independence from Great Britain. Ulster loyalism emerged in

10431-560: The Belfast City Commission, teenagers Henrietta Cowan and Christine Smith pleaded guilty to murder. They were now aged 18 and 17 respectively. Characterised as having been "without feeling or remorse", they were convicted of carrying out the murder and sentenced to be detained at Armagh Women's Prison for life at the pleasure of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland . Smith was not the only member of her family to be involved in loyalist paramilitary activity. Her elder brother, prominent South Belfast UDA member Francis "Hatchet" Smith (28),

10614-410: The Belvoir area of Newtownbreda , Colin "Bap" Lindsay, was killed at his home after being hacked to death with his own sword. Fellow UDA man Stanley Wightman died of his injuries soon afterwards, with Albert Armstrong, also a UDA member and a known associate of Lindsay and Wightman, was arrested and charged with the killings. Lindsay was buried on 18 July, with the funeral attended by Jackie McDonald, who

10797-459: The British Army, thus effectively putting a security cordon or "ring of steel" around the city centre, which resulted in both Protestants and Catholics retreating further into segregated neighbourhoods, which rapidly fell under the sway of local paramilitary groups who exerted a strong influence in their respective districts. These groups also assumed the role of policing their communities and rooting out what they described as anti-social elements. In

10980-411: The CID team set up to investigate the Ogilby killing. After Sharlene was located in a children's home, she was interviewed by a female detective; she clearly remembered the events of 24 July. It was arranged for Sharlene to accompany three CID detectives in a car to Sandy Row and she was able to direct them to the disused bakery in Hunter Street. A Scenes of Crime Officer was sent to the scene to examine

11163-437: The CLMC on 28 August 1996 agreed that both Kerr and Wright should be expelled from their respective organisations. The two then pooled their resources in a new dissident group, the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF). Jackie McDonald was again appointed brigadier, having been released from prison. McDonald faced an early challenge as relations with the local Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) deteriorated and threatened to break out into

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11346-575: The Catholic minority in retaliation for Irish republican activity. Northern Ireland's unionist governments discriminated against Catholics and Irish nationalists. Loyalists opposed the Catholic civil rights movement , accusing it of being a republican front. This unrest led to the Troubles (1969–98). During the conflict, loyalist paramilitaries such as the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Ulster Defence Association (UDA) often attacked Catholics, partly in retaliation for republican paramilitary actions. Loyalists undertook major protest campaigns against

11529-431: The Catholic part of Portadown . Catholic residents held mass protests against the yearly march, seeing it as triumphalist and supremacist , forcing police to halt the march. Loyalists saw this as an assault on Ulster Protestant traditions, and held violent protests throughout Northern Ireland. In Portadown, thousands of loyalists attacked lines of police and soldiers guarding the Catholic district. A new UVF splinter group,

11712-417: The February 1974 edition of Ulster Loyalist , a UDA publication, the UDA warned that it intended to take firm action against teenaged criminals and vandals in the Sandy Row and Village areas. Robert Fisk , Belfast correspondent for The Times between the years 1972-75, regarded the Sandy Row UDA as having been one of the most truculent of all paramilitary outfits in Belfast. Their bellicose stance over

11895-447: The IRA ceasefire had been a success, the IRA leadership had already warned British government negotiators that the ceasefire would finish if the British Army failed to protect the homeless Catholics in Lenadoon. Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade leaders Seamus Twomey and Brendan Hughes , who were especially eager to end the ceasefire because they believed the British were acting in bad faith, had laid careful plans to end it at Lenadoon if

12078-403: The IRA drew most of its support from the Catholic community. Such retaliation was seen as both collective punishment and an attempt to weaken the IRA's support; some loyalists argued that terrorising the Catholic community and inflicting a high death toll on it would eventually force the IRA to end its campaign. According to then Prime Minister Tony Blair , "The purpose of loyalist terrorism

12261-565: The North Belfast Brigade but confirming support for Bunting's leadership. However, whilst the statement was signed by McDonald and Birch, no representative of the West Belfast Brigade had added their signature. The North Belfast rebels subsequently named Robert Molyneaux, a convicted killer and former friend of Bunting's closest ally John Howcroft, as their preferred choice for Brigadier. Bunting's opponents criticised his alleged heavy-handed approach, particularly towards Tiger's Bay residents, while his supporters claimed that Bunting's attempts to tackle

12444-443: The Northern Ireland population was Roman Catholic, with 62% belonging to the three major Protestant denominations ( Presbyterian 31%, Church of Ireland 27%, Methodist 4%). The Unionist governments of Northern Ireland discriminated against the Irish nationalist and Catholic minority. A non-violent campaign to end discrimination began in the late 1960s. This civil rights campaign was opposed by loyalists, who accused it of being

12627-487: The Plantation of the province. Eastern Ulster was also more industrialised and dependent on trade with Britain than most other parts of Ireland. Although not all Unionists were Protestant or from Ulster, loyalism emphasised Ulster Protestant heritage. It began as a self-determination movement of Ulster Protestants who did not want to become part of a self-governing Ireland, believing it would be dominated by Catholic Irish nationalists. The British government's introduction of

12810-403: The Protestant unionists and Catholic Irish nationalists was six years old and showed no sign of abating; bombings, shootings, sectarian murders, intimidation, security alerts and military patrols were a daily feature of life in Belfast and the rest of Northern Ireland. There was no family in working-class areas of Belfast that remained unscathed by the Troubles or insusceptible to the effects of

12993-482: The Sandy Row area. Loyalist sources claimed Smith "deeply regretted" the part she played in Ogilby's murder. Graham, following his release from prison, also returned to south Belfast. To the present day he has steadfastly refused to discuss the murder. The rest of the women involved in Ogilby's murder are to date living in Sandy Row or the Village. William Young died in 2007. The disused bakery in Hunter Street has since been demolished. Belfast poet Linda Anderson wrote

13176-685: The South Belfast Brigade the movement's most important. As head of both the South Belfast Brigade and effective leader of the UDA McDonald sought to move the group away from violence and announced in 2007 that the Ulster Freedom Fighters, a codename used by the UDA to refer to its killing wing, was to be stood down. McDonald advocated decommissioning of UDA weapons although on this point he faced opposition from some of his fellow brigadiers, with Billy McFarland telling him that his North Antrim and Londonderry Brigade could not support

13359-485: The South Belfast UDA's auspices. Ogilby had spread rumours about Young's wife, who was a member of the Sandy Row women's UDA, that resulted in her fatal punishment beating. The commander of the Sandy Row women's UDA unit was Elizabeth "Lily" Douglas of City Street. She was among the ten women convicted of Ogilby's murder. The unit was disbanded by the UDA following the killing. The UDA in Sandy Row had garnered

13542-417: The Troubles, and were responsible for about 48% of all civilian deaths. Loyalist paramilitaries killed civilians at far higher rates than both Republican paramilitaries and British security forces. Soldiers from the locally-recruited Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) and police officers from the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) colluded with loyalist paramilitaries, such as taking part in loyalist attacks (e.g.

13725-505: The Troubles, and were the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), and the Ulster Defence Association (UDA)/Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF). They, and most other loyalist paramilitaries, are classified as terrorist organisations . During the Troubles, their stated goals were to combat Irish republicanism – particularly the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) – and to defend Protestant loyalist areas. However,

13908-629: The UDA drew up a 'doomsday plan', to be implemented should British troops be withdrawn from Northern Ireland. It called for ethnic cleansing and re-partition , with the goal of making Northern Ireland wholly Protestant. Some loyalist paramilitaries have had links with far-right and Neo-Nazi groups in Britain, including Combat 18 , the British National Socialist Movement , and the National Front. Since

14091-455: The UDA had obtained detailing the whereabouts of several republican leaders. Although the UDF was officially outside the UDA's brigade structure it was under the overall command of McMichael and included several of his most trusted South Belfast Brigade lieutenants within its ranks. A notable action by the UDF, an attack on the home of Bernadette McAliskey , was carried out by South Belfast members of

14274-715: The UDA headquarters in Gawn Street, east Belfast. Tanya Higgins and Nancy Brown Diggs observed in their book Women Living in Conflict that the loyalist paramilitary women were "angrier and more militant" than their male counterparts. Another analysis was provided by Sandra McEvoy in her report Women Loyalist Paramilitaries in Northern Ireland: Duty, Agency and Empowerment - a Report from the Field in which she suggested that by joining paramilitary groups like

14457-531: The UDA in South Belfast was Sandy Row close to Belfast city centre , although it soon spread out to other areas of the city as well as to nearby towns such as Lisburn , Dromara and Ballynahinch . Sammy Murphy emerged as the commander in Sandy Row, using the local Orange Hall as his headquarters. In June 1972 he took the lead in a stand-off with republicans in Lenadoon , an area in the southwest of

14640-639: The UDA in South Belfast, which by that time was recognised as a brigade, stepped up its activity, kidnapping 14-year-old Philip Rafferty from his home in Andersonstown and taking him to the Giant's Ring , where he was murdered. Gabriel Savage, a seventeen-year-old, was killed in similar circumstances soon afterwards. Other units began to emerge in Taughmonagh and Dunmurry , with the former responsible for killing Daniel Rouse in June 1973, in an attack which saw

14823-419: The UDA's six brigades and expanded to cover an area much wider than its initial South Belfast borders. In the first days of the Troubles a number of local "defence associations" were established across Belfast by Protestants, ostensibly to protect against attacks from the IRA. Whilst South Belfast had fewer interface areas than the west or north of the city it nonetheless followed suit. An early example of such

15006-485: The UDA, loyalist women were provided with a sense of freedom and personal and political power that had previously been denied them in the domestic sphere; furthermore by taking up "the gun", the women proved they were willing to go to prison for their beliefs and the loyalist cause. The commander of the Sandy Row women's unit was Elizabeth "Lily" Douglas, described by Kiely as having revered power above everything else in her life. As leader of that particular unit she exerted

15189-529: The UDA, would be expelled from the Shankill and transferred to Taughmonagh as a member of the South Belfast Brigade. An attempt to kill him outside a bar on Sandy Row followed, leading to sour relations between the Sandy Row UDA and the Donegall Pass UVF. In 1997, a leading member of the Dunmurry UDA, Brian Morton, described in some contemporary reports as being the brigade's second-in-command,

15372-399: The UDA. Journalist Ciarán Barnes described it as being one of the most brutal murders of the Troubles; adding that its sheer savagery and the fact that it was carried out by women against another woman within earshot of her child left a lasting impression upon the public psyche. The UDA leadership had not sanctioned the killing; and there was general condemnation from the UDA prisoners inside

15555-413: The UDA. There was a particularly active women's group on the Shankill Road which had been established by Wendy "Bucket" Millar as the first UDA women's unit. A number of the members were highly visible due to the beehive hairstyles they typically wore. Although each unit was independent of the others, Jean Moore and later Hester Dunn served as the overall leaders of the UDA's women's department at

15738-464: The UDF, including McMichael's closest confidante Ray Smallwoods . Tom Graham of Lisburn and Andrew Watson from Seymour Hill, Dunmurry, both parts of the South Belfast Brigade area, were subsequently convicted and imprisoned along with Smallwoods for the attack. When news of the army intelligence list being in UDA possession was leaked to the press during the trial, the UDF project was abandoned amid awkward questions about military-UDA collusion. McMichael

15921-941: The United Kingdom, and oppose a united Ireland independent of the UK. Unlike other strands of unionism, loyalism has been described as an ethnic nationalism of Ulster Protestants and "a variation of British nationalism ". Loyalists are often said to have a conditional loyalty to the British state so long as it defends their interests. They see themselves as loyal primarily to the Protestant British monarchy rather than to British governments and institutions, while Garret FitzGerald argued they are loyal to 'Ulster' over 'the Union'. A small minority of loyalists have called for an independent Ulster Protestant state, believing they cannot rely on British governments to support them (see Ulster nationalism ). The term 'loyalism'

16104-593: The air in a show of strength. McDonald had no desire to feud with the UVF and told his men to leave the Shankill that evening. He promptly contacted his opposite number in the South Belfast UVF and concluded a pact that their members would not attack each other. Even when the initial feud cooled, the enmity between McDonald and Adair continued to simmer and in Inner Council meetings the two frequently clashed as, according to one veteran loyalist, "Jackie

16287-575: The area and had made preparations to use force had the British Army smashed them. Murphy, who was described in military press releases as a community leader, successfully negotiated with the soldiers to defuse the explosive situation. Gerard McWilliams, a young hippy from a Catholic background living in the Lisburn Road , was beaten and stabbed to death in an entry near his home by South Belfast brigade members in September 1974 as he returned from

16470-529: The authors argue that "rape and the beating and humiliation of women in working-class Belfast was as routine as gunfire but was subsumed in the maelstrom of violence engulfing the North". Within weeks of the killing, the RUC had arrested ten women and one man in connection with the murder; this group contained Douglas' entire "Heavy Squad". Most of the women were unemployed and at least three had male relatives imprisoned for paramilitary offences. On 6 February 1975 at

16653-404: The bands" (competition between loyalist flute bands) at which he made it clear that unity had been re-established. He then received a standing ovation from those present as, marching behind a masked man carrying an AK 47 , McDonald led the other five brigadiers onto the stage. The feud had effectively made McDonald de facto head of the UDA and had shifted power away from the west of the city to make

16836-418: The building's interior and collect the evidence. Forensics later showed that the bloodstains police detectives found on the floor and on the items retrieved from inside the UDA club matched Ogilby's blood group. Documents were also found on the premises bearing William Young's name. By that time the suspects had already been rounded up and taken in for interrogation. These were the eight women who had been inside

17019-608: The car with Ogilby on the evening of 23 July following the fracas outside the Glengall Street bus station. Ogilby, aged 31 or 32 at the time of her death, was buried in Umgall Cemetery, Templepatrick , County Antrim . Her children Sharlene and Derek were put into care. The Ogilby family received only £149 compensation from the State to cover her funeral expenses. It was later revealed that Ogilby had planned to relocate to Edinburgh , Scotland as soon as her infant son, Derek,

17202-403: The centre on 11 June 1997 a relative of Moorhead, who was himself a UDA member, approached Bates and shot him dead. Well-known locally, the killer was quickly identified and the UVF demanded he be given into their custody. However, following a meeting of the UDA's governing Inner Council (which McDonald, as South Belfast brigadier, attended) it was decided that the killer, who was highly regarded in

17385-591: The city but too far removed from the Shankill Road to be considered part of the West Belfast jurisdiction. With the Provisional IRA (IRA) on ceasefire the UDA hoped to use the incident to force them to break their truce to end negotiations between the IRA and the British government. With Protestant residents intimidated out of Horn Drive in Lenadoon, the IRA wanted to move in Catholics who had suffered

17568-493: The city. Southern representatives however attended two subsequent meetings and came on board as part of the new group. As such when the UDA in Belfast adopted a more formal structure the following year South Belfast was determined as one of the city's four battalions, along with East, North and West Belfast. Each of these areas was promoted to brigade status at an undetermined date soon afterwards. The earliest centre of activity for

17751-549: The codename "Gravedigger", was also active on 25 May 1991 conducted a high-profile killing when he led a team that gunned down Sinn Féin councillor Eddie Fullerton at his home in County Donegal . The policy of attacking Sinn Féin politicians had been developed by Ray Smallwoods, who had been released from prison and taken on a prominent role in both the Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) and the UDA, and it

17934-455: The company of the other patrons and being part of the camaraderie of loyalists "against the Fenians". A total of eight women and two men presided over this "trial"; Elizabeth Young, however, had by then absented herself as she was not part of Douglas' "Heavy Squad". The "Heavy Squad" were the members of the Sandy Row women's UDA unit who meted out punishment beatings by Douglas' orders. Ogilby

18117-601: The court as the leader of the Sandy Row women's UDA unit, Lily Douglas who had ordered the fatal punishment beating, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The charge of murder was withdrawn on the grounds that she had not actually intended for her "Heavy Squad" to kill Ogilby and she was subsequently sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in Armagh Prison. She received two further sentences (which were to run concurrently with her 10 years) of three years each, for intimidation and detaining Ogilby against her will. The exact motive for

18300-462: The deaths of McMichael and Craig, the UDA entered a period of disarray with much of the old leadership, including Tyrie, removed. One of Tyrie's last acts was to promote Jackie McDonald, at the time an unpopular figure due to his associations with Craig, to the role of South Belfast brigadier. His tenure proved short-lived however, due to the aforementioned conviction in 1990 in relation to his links to Craig. McDonald did oversee one prominent killing that

18483-409: The disorder, tension and carnage. The Provisional Irish Republican Army 's bombing campaign had escalated sharply in 1972 and began to increasingly target Belfast city centre , often with lethal consequences such as on Bloody Friday on 21 July 1972, when the Provisional IRA exploded 22 bombs across the city, killing nine people and injuring over 100. This led to the erection of steel gates, manned by

18666-556: The distinctive rings on her fingers. Hours later, a social worker from the Shaftesbury Square Social Services office, who had been scheduled to meet with Ann Ogilby on 24 July, contacted the RUC telling them that Ogilby and her daughter Sharlene had arrived at the office late for the appointment but left without explanation before the social worker could speak with Ann. She informed the RUC that Ogilby had not been seen since that afternoon. The social worker

18849-514: The doorstep he reassured the little girl that her mother was inside waiting for her. Sharlene was looked after by the hostel staff until she was placed in the care of the Social Services. Back at the UDA club, Cowan removed the bloodstained hood and saw by her appalling head wounds and badly-bruised, disfigured face that Ann Ogilby was obviously dead; the body was then wrapped up in a brown sack and carried downstairs. The killers went to have

19032-497: The drugs trade in the area were the real reason behind the attempts to remove him. McDonald meanwhile faced further calls to stand down from his opponents, with reports in the press suggesting that the leadership of the North Antrim and Londonderry Brigade were ready to declare their support for a West Belfast-led anti-McDonald initiative. As the feud rumbled on Bunting became a target for a number of attacks. In May 2014 Bunting

19215-411: The early 1970s by UDA North Belfast Brigadier Davy Payne . Named after the children's television programme , these "romper rooms" were located inside vacant buildings, warehouses, lock-up garages, and rooms above pubs and drinking clubs. Once inside, a victim would be "rompered" (beaten and tortured) before being killed. Although most of the victims were Catholics, many Protestants were also consigned to

19398-595: The early 20th century. In 1912, the Ulster Volunteers were formed to stop the British Government granting self-rule to Ireland, or to exclude Ulster from it. This led to the Home Rule Crisis , which was defused by the onset of World War I . Loyalist paramilitaries were again active in Ulster during the Irish War of Independence (1919–22), and more prominently during the Troubles (late 1960s–1998). The biggest and most active paramilitary groups existed during

19581-549: The eldest child, her daughter Sharlene, in her care. When Young was interned inside the Maze Prison in 1973, she often visited him. He complained that his estranged wife, Elizabeth never sent him food parcels, despite her having been provided with money by the Loyalist Prisoners' Association (LPA). The LPA was unaware of the Young couple's estrangement. The delivery of food parcels by women to imprisoned members

19764-477: The face, knocking her to the floor. Ogilby was then kicked in the face, head, and stomach by both girls before blows from sticks were rained down upon her. When the two teenagers began battering Ogilby's face and head with bricks which had been lying about the dismantled bakery, Albert Graham and "Heavy Squad" member Josephine Brown (who was also masked), saw Ogilby's blood staining the hood and realising things had gone too far, started to panic and remonstrated with

19947-548: The feud remains unresolved, with McDonald's chosen North Belfast brigadier facing a dissident leadership based in Tiger's Bay with Bill Hill, a leading figure in the Belfast City Hall flag protests acting as spokesman for the dissidents. McDonald remains in charge of the South Belfast Brigade, albeit with several stern critics within the wider UDA. In an incident unconnected to the feud the brigade's former commander in

20130-459: The fire brigade when they arrived, killing Brian Douglas, a Protestant fireman, and precipitating a night of rioting and violence in both the south and east of the city. The group also attacked nearby Durham Street, killing two Catholics from the area in quick succession in March 1973. Robert Fisk , who worked as the Belfast correspondent for The Times from 1972–75, suggested that the Sandy Row UDA

20313-421: The first floor and began banging on the door and crying for her mother. Although by this stage Ogilby had sustained severe head injuries from the brutal assault, Sharlene heard her screaming and pleading with her assailants for mercy while they danced to blaring disco music. Ignoring the injured woman's pleas for her life and Sharlene's cries, Henrietta Cowan, once again wielding a brick, resumed beating Ogilby on

20496-466: The first floor where she was made to sit on a wooden bench, blindfolded and a hood placed over her head. By this stage, Ogilby was so intimidated and terrorised by the "Heavy Squad", she no longer put up any resistance. Sunday Life newspaper suggested that she was bound to a chair instead of a bench. Ciarán Barnes, a journalist writing for the paper, had conducted an interview with Sharlene Ogilby in 2010. Retired RUC detective, Alan Simpson, who devoted

20679-852: The funeral of veteran IRA man Harry Thompson. In particular he was condemned by hard-liners for being pictured walking with Martin Ferris . Eventually the leadership of the West Belfast Brigade began to link up with hard-liners in North Belfast in an attempt to form a new anti-McDonald alliance. In 2013 it was reported in the Belfast Telegraph that the West Belfast Brigade had become so associated with criminality and racketeering that McDonald and his close allies Jimmy Birch (East Belfast Brigade leader) and John Bunting (North Belfast brigadier), no longer felt able to deal with

20862-408: The girls to discontinue the beating. Cowan and Smith did stop, to smoke cigarettes and make plans to attend a disco that evening. Simpson suggested that during the attack, Ogilby had placed her hands inside the hood in a futile attempt to protect her face from the force of the bricks. Meanwhile, Ogilby's daughter, Sharlene, had returned from the shops; she entered the club, climbed the stairs to

21045-473: The head of the Londonderry and North Antrim Brigade had met to discuss the feud as well as the schism with the West Belfast Brigade. According to the report they agreed that West Belfast Brigade members loyal to the wider UDA should establish a new command structure for the brigade which would then take the lead in ousting Mo Courtney , Jim Spence and Eric McKee from their existing leadership positions. It

21228-462: The head with renewed vigour until she lay dead on the floor. The beating session had lasted for over an hour. Ogilby received (according to the later autopsy report) a total of 24 blows to the head and body with a blunt object, 14 of which had caused "a severe fracture to the bulk of the skull". Albert Graham took Sharlene out of the building and drove her back to the YWCA hostel; as he left her on

21411-415: The initiative. McDonald also moved against others within the wider UDA whom he saw as a threat to his support for the peace process and in 2006 members of the South Belfast Brigade were moved across town to help force the dissident Shoukri brothers out of their north Belfast stronghold. South Belfast Brigade members would return to the area in 2011 to again remove Shoukri supporters. On Remembrance Day 2007

21594-842: The late 1980s James Craig , who had been an important figure in the West Belfast Brigade , moved over to the South Belfast Brigade after being ordered to leave the Shankill Road. He operated as the "chief collector" for the brigade and his presence ensured that they became as associated with racketeering as West Belfast had been during his tenure with that brigade. Craig was killed in October 1988 as part of an internal UDA feud, with rumours rife that he had been involved in setting up McMichael's assassination. Rumours suggested that McMichael had indicated his desire to tackle racketeering shortly before his death, although this suggestion

21777-480: The late 19th century, in response to the Irish Home Rule movement and the rise of Irish nationalism . At the time, all of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom . Although the island had a Catholic majority who wanted self-government, the northern province of Ulster had a Protestant majority who wanted to maintain a close union with Britain , a political tradition called Unionism. This was largely due to

21960-513: The latter's mother, commander Lily Douglas, abducted Ogilby from a friend's house in the Suffolk housing estate. They took her back to Sandy Row and put her before a kangaroo court held inside the disused Warwick's Bakery in 114 Hunter Street between Felt Street and Oswald Street, which had been converted into a UDA club. Ogilby had often frequented the club with Young on previous occasions prior to his internment; according to Kiely she had enjoyed

22143-658: The main unionist parties: the pro-Agreement UUP and anti-Agreement DUP. Since the Agreement, loyalist paramilitaries have been involved in riots, feuds between loyalist groups , organised crime, vigilantism such as punishment shootings , and racist attacks. Some UDA and LVF brigades broke the ceasefire and attacked Catholics under the name Red Hand Defenders , but the paramilitary campaigns did not resume. The 2001 Holy Cross protests drew world-wide condemnation as loyalists were shown hurling abuse and missiles, some explosive, others containing excrement, at very young Catholic schoolchildren and parents. Loyalist residents picketed

22326-420: The male and female members were caught up in violence and drunkenness and already inured to beatings and killings. Drinking clubs or shebeens where alcohol was obtained cheaply were common features in the area. Author David M. Kiely suggested that by this stage the women's unit was more about gangsterism and mob rule than adhering to a political cause. The Sandy Row unit was not the only women's unit within

22509-467: The most prominent figures within the wider movement. Following the heavy activity of the years before, under the guidance of McMichael and Tyrie the UDA slowed down their run of killings. They were responsible for the deaths of three Catholics in 1977 and two in 1978. This changed in 1979, when a group of commando units was formed within the UDA under the name Ulster Defence Force (UDF), in order to take advantage of British Intelligence Corps documents that

22692-516: The motives for the murder. The others received lesser sentences: Albert Graham and Josephine Brown, after pleading guilty, were sentenced to three years imprisonment on charges of being accessories after the fact and causing grievous bodily harm to Ann Ogilby; the Crown withdrew the murder charge against the pair after recognising their attempt to prevent Cowan and Smith from continuing with the fatal beating. The unit's second-in-command, Kathleen Whitla

22875-527: The murder was not established in court. During police interrogation, Douglas maintained that Ogilby's killing was the result of a personal vendetta, stating "It was not a UDA operation, they had nothing to do with it. It was just a move between a lot of women, a personal thing". In his book The Protestants of Ulster which was published in 1976, Geoffrey Bell stated that the women murdered her as punishment for her affair with William Young. Henry McDonald and Jim Cusack suggested that jealousy and bloodlust were

23058-490: The nearby Regency Hotel lounge bar overlooking the office. They knew beforehand that Ogilby had an appointment that afternoon at the Shaftesbury Square office. Using the pretext that a UDA commander wished to speak with her, Graham was able to abduct Ogilby and her daughter Sharlene as they left the office; Ogilby, taken in by Graham's words, willingly got into his blue minibus. Having made a pre-arranged signal to

23241-406: The others. Blocking the bus as it pulled out of the station into the street, Douglas and her "Heavy Squad" then boarded the bus and dragged her off into the waiting car for a further grilling. Minutes later, after being alerted by the bus station staff, the car was stopped by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). Although Douglas claimed they were on their way to a party, the querying policeman told

23424-542: The public psyche even at a time when bombings and killings were daily occurrences. The Ann Ogilby murder was investigated by the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) which was established by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to investigate the most controversial killings carried out during the Troubles . Ann Ogilby (born c.1942/1943 and sometimes referred to as Anne Ogilby), a young Protestant woman, moved to Belfast from Sion Mills , County Tyrone on

23607-401: The rent. Her striking good looks made her popular with men. In about 1968 she became a single mother, having been made pregnant by a married British soldier stationed in Northern Ireland who had abandoned her and their child after he was transferred to another duty station. She started socialising with a rough crowd, and in August 1972, she met William Young, a married high-ranking member of

23790-546: The scene which was then photographed and mapped. Ogilby, clad in a red jumper, grey trousers and wearing just one shoe, was lying on her back partly submerged in 18 inches of stagnant water with her blackened and battered face visible and her arms outstretched. Her missing shoe and a large brown sack were discovered not far away from her body at the top of the ditch. There were no identifying documents found on her. The press, along with local television and radio news bulletins, released details regarding her physical appearance and

23973-520: The school in protest at alleged sectarianism from Catholics in the area. Many other loyalist protests and riots have been sparked by restrictions on Orange marches, such as the 2005 Whiterock riots . The widespread loyalist flag protests and riots of 2012–13 followed Belfast City Council voting to limit the flying of the Union Flag from council buildings. Loyalists saw it as an "attack on their cultural identity". The Loyalist Communities Council

24156-574: The shop, overheard her mother being beaten and killed. A later autopsy report revealed that Ogilby had sustained 24 blows to the head and body, 14 of which caused a "severe fracture to the bulk of the skull". Within weeks of the killing, ten women and one man were arrested in connection with the murder. They were convicted in February 1975. All but one, a minor whose sentence was suspended, went to prison. The murder caused widespread revulsion, shock and horror throughout Northern Ireland and remained long in

24339-416: The soldiers entered the fray on the side of the loyalists. The UDA in Sandy Row were also involved in "rompering", a nickname given by the UDA to the slow, torture-driven killings of kidnapped victims. On 30 August 1972 members of the group, as well as leading Woodvale Defence Association figure Ernie Elliott , kidnapped Catholic former British soldier Patrick Devaney before taking him to Sandy Row where he

24522-511: The street barricades they erected during the Ulster Workers Council Strike in May 1974 almost led them into direct confrontation with the British Army and they had even made preparations to fight if the latter had smashed the UDA roadblocks. The Sandy Row UDA's commander during this volatile period was Sammy Murphy who used as his headquarters the local Orange Hall. In addition to Sandy Row, Murphy had overall command of

24705-542: The stronghold of the anti-Bunting faction. Soon after the latter attack former North Belfast brigadier William Borland , who had become associated with the pro-Molyneaux wing, was attacked with a breeze block and shot in the leg close to his home in Carr's Glen . Following the attack both Bunting and Howcroft were arrested on suspicion of involvement. Along with another associate they were charged with attempting to murder Borland and Andre Shoukri and were remanded in custody. As

24888-479: The then-legal Ulster Defence Association (UDA) with whom she fell deeply in love and began living with him in south Belfast. Young came from the loyalist Donegall Pass area and was a local UDA commander. He told Ogilby his marriage had already broken up and that his divorce hadn't been finalised. Ogilby by that time had three children by two different men: Sharlene, and twins Stephen and Gary. The boys had been put up for adoption after their birth, leaving only

25071-408: The traditional Orange Arches erected for the occasion. Prior to late 20th-century urban redevelopment beginning in the 1980s, rows of 19th-century terraced houses lined the streets and backstreets that branched off the main commercial thoroughfare. Loyalist paramilitaries have had an active presence there since the early days of the Troubles . By 1974, the violent ethno-political conflict waged between

25254-419: The trial judge, Mr. Justice McGonigle stated, "I do not know what constitutes a 'paramilitary' organisation. What appears before me today under the name of the UDA is gun law, a vicious, brutalising organisation of persons who take the law into their own hands and who, by kangaroo courts and the infliction of physical brutality, terrorise a neighbourhood through intimidation, and rule an area of this city". During

25437-407: The trial, it emerged that plans to kill Ogilby had been formulated by the UDA unit several months before her kangaroo court "trial". Lily Douglas was lambasted by Justice McGonigle, "You ordered and directed the punishment of this girl. You chose and chose well those who were to carry out your directions. When you heard what had happened you organised the cover-up and disposal of the body. Your concern

25620-484: The vast majority of their victims were Irish Catholic civilians, who were often killed at random in sectarian attacks. Whenever they claimed responsibility for attacks, loyalists usually claimed that those targeted were IRA members or were helping the IRA. M.L.R. Smith wrote that "From the outset, the loyalist paramilitaries tended to regard all Catholics as potential rebels". Other times, attacks on Catholic civilians were claimed as "retaliation" for IRA actions, since

25803-403: The vehicle slowly reversed down the driveway, the movement-sensitive switch in the detonating mechanism of the five pound booby-trap bomb attached to its underside was activated, and the device exploded. McMichael lost both legs in the blast and suffered grave internal injuries. He was rushed to Lagan Valley Hospital where he died two hours later. The IRA claimed responsibility for the killing. In

25986-576: The walls of the Donegall Road. The brigade obeyed the ceasefire but, like their counterparts in the UDA South East Antrim Brigade , continued to take a leading role in sectarian intimidation, in particular targeting the few Catholic families who lived in the loyalist Blacks Road enclave, close to Lenadoon. Kerr meanwhile drew closer to Wright and appeared publicly with him during the Drumcree conflict in 1996. A meeting of

26169-477: The watching women, Graham drove the two females away to the UDA club in Hunter Street, Sandy Row, which had been turned into a "romper room". When the UDA women, led by Douglas, arrived on the scene, Ogilby tried to escape, but was grabbed and forcibly detained. After Graham sent Sharlene to a corner shop to buy sweets, Ogilby was ordered by Douglas to be dragged inside the former bakery and forced upstairs to

26352-610: The western leadership. Tensions had been further stoked by a graffiti campaign against Bunting's leadership on the York Road , in which expelled members of the North Belfast Brigade, who had come under the wing of their counterparts in the west, called for Bunting's removal as brigadier. The feud was confirmed in December 2013 when a UDA statement was released acknowledging the existence of a dissident tendency within

26535-414: The whole affair was foul and sickening. Ogilby was cleared by the UDA of an allegation about her private life long before she was killed. The killing was an act of jealousy by a group of women. Following the Ogilby attack, the Sandy Row women's UDA unit was permanently disbanded by the UDA leadership. None of the other UDA women's units had consented to or been aware of the fatal punishment beating until it

26718-484: The women about the report of one of them having been forced off the bus. In an attempt to mollify Douglas, Ogilby then spoke up admitting that she was the person who had been removed from the bus but that "It was nothing. Just a couple of us fooling around". The police however remained unconvinced of their claims and the eight women and Ogilby were taken into the RUC Queen Street station for questioning. All of

26901-438: The women were asked for their names and addresses; the majority lived in the Sandy Row area. Fearing the grisly fate that typically befell informers, Ogilby did not say anything to the RUC about the UDA kangaroo court or threats against her. Therefore, she and the eight other women were released without being charged the following morning at 2.00 a.m. Ogilby returned to the police station a few hours later, visibly frightened, but

27084-464: The women's unit decided that Ogilby would pay for both the affair and remarks with her life. The day following the kangaroo court "trial", they arranged for the kidnapping of Ogilby and her six-year-old daughter, Sharlene, outside a Social Services office by UDA man Albert "Bumper" Graham. A group of UDA women then followed the minibus which took Ogilby and Sharlene to a disused bakery in Hunter Street, Sandy Row; this empty building had been converted into

27267-686: Was accompanied by violence both in defence of and against partition. Belfast saw "savage and unprecedented" communal violence , mainly between Protestant loyalist and Catholic nationalist civilians. Loyalists attacked the Catholic minority in reprisal for IRA actions. Thousands of Catholics and "disloyal" Protestants were driven from their jobs, particularly in the shipyards, and there were mass burnings of Catholic homes and businesses in Lisburn and Banbridge . More than 500 were killed in Northern Ireland during partition and more than 10,000 became refugees, most of them Catholics. In 1926, about 33–34% of

27450-410: Was a long-established practice by the UDA and a "particular source of pride for the organisation". Ogilby was required to make up and send him the food parcels herself which she felt was an imposition as these had to come out of her own money, although she was almost destitute. When Ogilby mistakenly repeated Young's complaint in a Sandy Row pub, the local Sandy Row women's UDA unit (of which Elizabeth

27633-637: Was a member) overheard her words and became violently angry, especially as Elizabeth was able to prove that she had been sending her husband food parcels. Ogilby's comments were regarded by the women's UDA as a grievous insult to its integrity, as the unit was responsible for the assembly and distribution of the parcels. The group was already antagonistic due to Ogilby's affair with Young, and her defamatory remarks only added fuel to their wrath. The women considered her behaviour in public immoral, ostentatious, and extremely unconventional because she frequented clubs and pubs on her own instead of with female friends which

27816-411: Was also stated that the West Belfast breakaway leaders had recruited Jimbo Simpson , a former North Belfast brigadier driven out of Northern Ireland over a decade earlier, and were seeking to restore him to his former role. This followed the rejection of earlier overtures to West Belfast brigadier Matt Kincaid as he opted to back Spence and Courtney. William Borland , was shot Dead in 2016. As of 2015

27999-524: Was amongst a number of UDA leaders arrested during subsequent investigations into collusion, although no charges were brought against him. With McMichael a candidate in the 1982 Belfast South by-election , the South Belfast Brigade scaled down its role. During the protests against the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985, the brigade became involved in a series of sectarian petrol bomb attacks on the homes of Catholics in Lisburn. McMichael also led

28182-484: Was attacked in Tiger's Bay by a group of opponents. During the brawl Bunting was knocked unconscious and had his mobile phone stolen. Bunting had been visiting the home of one of his internal critics at the time of the incident. In August 2014 as Bunting drove along Duncairn Gardens, a street separating Tiger's Bay from the republican New Lodge area his car was damaged by a pipe bomb thrown at it. Tiger's Bay had emerged as

28365-572: Was close to the LVF. Whilst supporting the Orange Order 's desire to march through nationalist areas, McDonald was a lot less enthusiastic than Adair about getting involved in the Drumcree conflict . McDonald felt that mainstream unionist parties were playing too much of a role in Drumcree and publicly condemned their tendency to link up with loyalist paramilitaries when it suited them only to later drop them when their usefulness had expired. Similarly he

28548-414: Was described in the press as a "close friend of the deceased". The funeral proved controversial due to the presence of paramilitary insignia. Ulster loyalist Ulster loyalism is a strand of Ulster unionism associated with working class Ulster Protestants in Northern Ireland. Like other unionists, loyalists support the continued existence of Northern Ireland (and formerly all of Ireland) within

28731-608: Was followed soon after by the killing of Sinn Féin Councillor Bernard O'Hagan in Magherafelt by the Lisburn unit. The Lisburn unit expanded significantly in 1991-2, launching a recruitment drive amongst teenagers in schools within its area. It carried out two more killings in early 1992. In February 1992 the brigade carried out the Sean Graham bookmakers' shooting in which five Catholic civilians were killed in

28914-401: Was given two years for intimidation; Maud Tait (21), Anne Gracey (28), Elizabeth Douglas, Jr (19), and Marie Lendrum (23), were all sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for intimidation, and an unnamed 16-year-old was given an 18-months suspended sentence for intimidation. The convictions resulted in the largest single ingress of loyalist women into a Northern Ireland prison. Denouncing the UDA,

29097-435: Was grilled for an hour over her affair with Young and regarding her calumnies over the food parcels. At some stage, Douglas told her, "We have rules here. We all stick to them and I expect anybody new to do the same". Ogilby, by now frightened at the predicament in which she found herself, was additionally informed that if found guilty, she would be subjected to a "rompering". The notorious UDA "romper rooms" had been invented in

29280-399: Was hung upside down from a beam and beaten with hammers before being shot in the back of the head. The same group was responsible for one of the early UDA-on-UDA killings in December 1972 when members of the group shot and killed Ernie Elliott after a drunken argument about weapons that Elliott's men had loaned to the southern contingent. According to later eyewitness reports Elliott had entered

29463-562: Was implicated in collusion investigations. On 25 August 1989 Loughlin Maginn , a Catholic from Rathfriland who was suspected by local loyalists of being an IRA member despite a lack of evidence, was killed by the South Belfast UDA. In a later interview McDonald would state he was sure Maginn was an IRA member, stating that his source was intelligence reports he had received from the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR). The killing

29646-554: Was investigated as part of the Stevens Inquiries into allegations of collusion and it was determined that contact between UDR and UDA members had been instrumental in the murder. In March 1992 four men were sentenced to life for the murder, Geoffrey McCullough and Edward Jones of the UDA and Andrew Browned and Andrew Smith of the UDR. McDonald was succeeded as brigadier by Alex Kerr , also a native of Taughmonagh. Kerr took over

29829-420: Was killed after residents had complained to Bratty in his role as local UDA commander about the noise of her stereo. Bratty assembled a team of ten men armed with baseball bats who broke in, beat her to death, seriously injuring three of her companions and wrecked the flat. In the end only a sixty-year-old who had led the complaints to Bratty was charged with relation to Wilson's death. Bratty was also identified as

30012-477: Was killed by the Red Hand Commando and immediately afterwards Adair, seeing an opportunity to strike back at a rival, went to his family home to inform visiting LVF members that the killing had been actually ordered by Jim Gray. With Adair's encouragement, an LVF hit team waited for Gray to appear at Warnock's house where, after he paid his respects to the family, he was shot in the face as he left. Gray

30195-515: Was killed in retaliation for the killing of another taxi driver, John McColgan, whose death the IRA blamed on the Suffolk UDA. The spell of violence abated with the announcement of the Good Friday Agreement soon afterwards, with McDonald one of its main supporters within the UDA. Having emerged as the strongest pro-Agreement voice within the UDA, McDonald was soon on a collision course with his opposite number in West Belfast, Johnny Adair , who

30378-453: Was killed when a pipe bomb he was making exploded prematurely. As part of a series of tit-for-tat killings in 1998, two members of the brigade, Jim Guiney and Robert Dougan, were killed by republicans. Both men were close friends of McDonald. The UDA retaliated for the former attack by killing Catholic taxi-driver Larry Brennan on the Ormeau Road. Dougan, the commander of the UDA in Suffolk ,

30561-550: Was launched in 2015 with the backing of the UVF and UDA. It seeks to reverse what it sees as political and economic neglect of working-class loyalists since the Good Friday Agreement. In 2021, it withdrew its support for the Agreement, due to the creation of a trade border between Northern Ireland and Britain as a result of Brexit . The fall-out over this partly fuelled loyalist rioting that Spring . Loyalist paramilitary and vigilante groups have been active since

30744-418: Was one of the most bellicose of all the paramilitary units in Belfast during this period. Henry McDonald and Jim Cusack confirmed this, declaring that the Sandy Row and Donegall Pass UDA were almost out of control at the time, with both its men and women inured to killings and beatings. Towards the end of 1972 the UDA began to increase in importance in other areas of South Belfast, with the "Village" area of

30927-426: Was released from hospital (on account of his premature birth). Ogilby's murder caused widespread revulsion and shock throughout Northern Ireland, even though it had taken place during the most turbulent period of the Troubles when bombings and sectarian killings had become commonplace. Protestants were especially appalled that Ogilby, herself a Protestant, had become a victim of loyalist violence and angrily denounced

31110-440: Was reported in the news. Additionally, the Sandy Row women's unit notwithstanding, UDA "romper rooms" were more commonly used by male members of the organisation than by their female counterparts. Journalists Henry McDonald and Jim Cusack described Ogilby's death as typical of the "brutish ... culture" that dominated the UDA and other paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. In reference to this attack and other cases of "rompering",

31293-569: Was sent home in a taxi after refusing to give the reason for her distress. That same day inside a Sandy Row pub, Douglas told the other women that Ogilby was a troublemaker who had to die, and she speedily made arrangements to facilitate the murder. That same Wednesday 24 July 1974 at 3:30 pm, outside the Social Services office in Shaftesbury Square , Ogilby and her daughter were kidnapped by 25-year-old UDA man Albert "Bumper" Graham, while members of Lily Douglas' "Heavy Squad" waited at

31476-437: Was seriously injured but survived the attack. McDonald called a crisis meeting of brigadiers, including Adair, at Sandy Row but it failed to reach a conclusion as Adair denied involvement in the attack on Gray. As soon as the meeting was over, Adair drove to Ballysillan in north Belfast to meet with allies in the LVF, although he was unaware that a mainstream UDA team were following him and recording his movements. When McDonald

31659-427: Was shocked to find that C Company had used the day to drive UVF members and their families from the road, even attacking the homes of such UVF "elder statesmen" as Gusty Spence and Winston Churchill Rea . At the culmination of the day, McDonald and other brigadiers, as well as Deputy Lord Mayor of Belfast Frank McCoubrey , were brought onto a makeshift stage where C Company members emerged and fired machine guns into

31842-544: Was shot dead in Rodney Parade, off Donegall Road , by the IRA in January 1973 after he, as part of a UDA unit, gunned down Peter Watterson, a 15-year-old Catholic boy, in a drive-by sectarian shooting at the Falls Road /Donegall Road junction. A roofer by trade who was married with one child he was (despite his wife having been Catholic), the local UDA commander in the Village area where he lived. Described to

32025-523: Was taken to live in Sion Mills by an aunt. For a while she kept in touch with her brother Gary but has since lost contact; she has no knowledge of what happened to her other brothers Stephen and Derek. Lily Douglas died shortly after being released from Armagh Prison on compassionate grounds in 1979; Kathleen Whitla is also deceased. Henrietta Cowan and Christine Smith were both released from Armagh in December 1983 after serving nine years. They returned to

32208-537: Was that these happenings should not come to light. You were the commander of these women; your responsibility was great. You are no stranger to crime. You have a record of smuggling, forgery, assault and actual bodily harm and aiding and abetting the keeping of a brothel. Though the last of these was in 1961 it is an indication of your character." The Northern Irish press dubbed Elizabeth "Lily" Douglas "the Sandy Row executioner". Sharlene Ogilby later married and has three children of her own. After her mother's murder, she

32391-473: Was the custom in Sandy Row. Furthermore, they believed her loud, outspoken and maverick personality, status as an unmarried mother, and habit of what was described by a local as "flaunting herself" was a cultural infraction that brought shame upon their community. Sandy Row is an Ulster Protestant working class enclave just south of Belfast city centre closely affiliated with the Orange Order whose 12 July parades are gaudy, elaborate events made notable by

32574-519: Was the only one with the balls to stand up to him". Nonetheless, when Adair was released from prison on 15 May 2002, McDonald, arguing that he deserved a second chance and hoping that his return to prison may have mellowed him, was one of the brigadiers to appear at Adair's Boundary Way home and welcome him back in front of the television cameras. The public display of amity between McDonald and Adair did not result in improved relations as time passed. On 14 September 2002, East Belfast LVF man Stephen Warnock

32757-498: Was then taken to the mortuary where she confirmed that the dead woman inside was Ann Ogilby. One of Ogilby's brothers later positively identified her. The police were told Sharlene was in the care of Social Services. Due to the location of the body, the murder investigation was allocated to the RUC B Division (West Belfast), based at the Springfield Road station where CID Detective Alan Simpson served. He formed part of

32940-754: Was to retaliate, to dominate or to clear out Catholics." An editorial in the UVF's official magazine Combat explained in 1993: ...large areas of the Province that were predominately Protestant are now predominately Catholic. The reaction to this has been that the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Ulster Defence Association have intensified their campaign in order, not just to match the Catholic murders of Protestants, but to stop further enroachment into their areas. Loyalist paramilitaries were responsible for 29% of all deaths in

33123-552: Was told about this second meeting he secured agreement with the other brigadiers that Adair should be expelled from the UDA. Tension simmered for the next few months with little real fighting although McDonald threw a ring of steel around his Taughmonagh stronghold and even obtained an air raid siren to be sounded if any C Company members attempted to enter the estate. The killing of John Gregg and his associate Rab Carson by C Company in Sailortown on 1 February 2003 finally led to

33306-440: Was unconvinced by a series of vandalism attacks on loyalist areas in Belfast in late June by three carloads of "republicans", feeling that the missile-throwing youths were actually members of Adair's C Company sent to stir up sectarian hatred and win support for Adair's Drumcree strategy. McDonald was one of a number of brigadiers to accept Adair's invitation to a "Loyalist Day of Culture" on the Shankill Road on 19 August 2000 but

33489-566: Was unenthusiastic about the Northern Ireland peace process and in particular about the publication of the Framework Documents in February 1995, dismissing their insistence on cross-border institutions as a united Ireland by stealth. Growing close to UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade leader Billy Wright , Kerr began to attack the UDP for their alleged links to the illegal drugs trade and instructed brigade members to daub "Ulster Drugs Party" on

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