The funeral of 78-year-old Gusty Spence, the former leader of the UVF paramilitary organisation, has taken place in Belfast. In keeping with his wishes, there will be no UVF trappings and his coffin will be draped in the regimental flag of the Royal Ulster Rifles in which he served. [117] Members were trained in bomb-making, and the organisation developed home-made explosives. He will be buried in Bangor after a funeral service on the Shankill Road. [18] Two days later, the government of Northern Ireland used the Special Powers Act to declare the UVF illegal. Mr Lynch's widow, Norma, recollected last night that the late Catholic primate of Ireland, Cardinal O Fiaich, had said that "if there was a hope for peace in Ireland it would come through Gusty". Augustus 'Gusty' Spence (born 28th June 1933) is a former leader of the Ulster Volunteer Force, Loyalist politician and soldier in the British Army. [40] Following Merlyn Rees' decision to legalise the UVF in 1974, Spence encouraged them to enter politics and supported the establishment of the Volunteer Political Party. Hawara: 'What happened was horrific and barbaric'. [26], On 26 June, the group shot dead a Catholic civilian and wounded two others as they left a pub on Malvern Street, Belfast. Wednesday, 15 February 2023 | 10.2 . THE self described "old UVF man", Mr Gusty Spence (64), gave a brief oration at the funeral of Mr Jim Lynch (72), a former officer commanding (OC) of the IRA, at Cootehill, Co Cavan,. [11] Whenever it claimed responsibility for its attacks, the UVF usually claimed that those targeted were IRA members or were giving help to the IRA. 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Slowly. [44] In 1977, he publicly condemned the use of violence for political gain, on the grounds that it was counter-productive. The UVF carried out dozens of sectarian murderers and it was while he was serving a sentence in Long Kesh prison for his role in the murder of a Catholic that Mr Spence began to change his views about the use of violence. Gusty Spence reading the 2007 UVF 'weapons beyond use' statement in Belfast. It set up a paramilitary-style wing called the Ulster Protestant Volunteers (UPV). The feud with the UDA ended in December following seven deaths. [40] These were all subordinate to the Brigade Staff. Another loyalist paramilitary organisation called Ulster Resistance was formed on 10 November 1986. The gunmen shot dead six people and injured five. Such retaliation was seen as both collective punishment and an attempt to weaken the IRA's support; it was thought that terrorising the Catholic community and inflicting such a death toll on it would force the IRA to end its campaign. Read about our approach to external linking. Get in touch with us now to get the service you need. for a proxy bomb attack targeting a "peace-building" event in Belfast where Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney was speaking. [84] Eleven months later, a man was arrested and charged with the attempted murder of the UVF's alleged second-in-command Harry Stockman, described by the Belfast Telegraph as a "senior Loyalist figure". Tributes were paid to former leading loyalist paramilitary turned peacemaker Gusty Spence at his funeral in Belfast today. Openly paraded with the UVF and thanked Gusty Spence repeatedly for his services to Ulster. [30] Met by two members of the Red Hand Commando upon his release, Spence was informed of the need for a restructuring within the UVF and told not to return to prison. In accordance with Spence's wishes, there were no paramilitary trappings at the funeral or reference to his time in the UVF. [45], Released from prison in 1984, Spence soon became a leading member of the UVF-linked Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) and a central figure in the Northern Ireland peace process. It was the deadliest attack of the Troubles. 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. [104] The Brigade Staff's former headquarters were situated in rooms above "The Eagle" chip shop located on the Shankill Road at its junction with Spier's Place. Augustus Andrew Spence (28 June 1933[2] 25 September 2011) was a leader of the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and a leading loyalist politician in Northern Ireland. [64] Republicans responded to the attacks by assassinating senior UVF members John Bingham, William "Frenchie" Marchant and Trevor King[65] as well as Leslie Dallas, whose purported UVF membership was disputed both by his family and the UVF. Hundreds of mourners have attended the funeral of the former loyalist leader Gusty Spence. In October, UVF and UPV member Thomas McDowell was killed by the bomb he was planting at Ballyshannon power station. [49] A political wing was formed in June 1974, the Volunteer Political Party led by UVF Chief of Staff Ken Gibson, which contested West Belfast in the October 1974 general election, polling 2,690 votes (6%). Spence was born in the Shankill Road, Belfast, area, Northern Ireland, the son of William Edward Spence, who was born in Whitehaven, England and raised in the Tiger's Bay area of north Belfast before moving to the Shankill. This was a large, three-day riot between Irish nationalists and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). The UVF was also clashing with the UDA in the summer of 2000. Read about our approach to external linking. Then, use free funeral planning tools to plan out the best funeral for your loved one. [106][107] This uniform, based on those of the original UVF, was introduced in the early 1970s. [27][28] Spence respected some Irish republican paramilitaries, who he felt also lived as soldiers, and to this end he wrote a sympathetic letter to the widow of Official IRA leader Joe McCann after he was killed in 1972. The charges were dropped but later in 1966 he was given life for the murder of Peter Ward, who had called in to a Shankill Road bar with Catholic workmates and was shot dead as he left. Speaking from his home in Belfast last night, Mr Spence said he had become acquainted with Mr Lynch three or four years ago. One study focusing in part on female members of the UVF and Red Hand Commando noted that it "seem[ed] to have been reasonably unusual" for women to be officially asked to join the UVF. Donoghue noted the links between Orange Lodges in Scotland and loyalist paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland and that membership of the Orange Order in Scotland at the time was 80,000, and was concentrated in Glasgow, Lanarkshire and Inverness. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Unable to find their target, the men drove around in search of any Catholic instead. [81], In June 2009 the UVF formally decommissioned their weapons in front of independent witnesses as a formal statement of decommissioning was read by Dawn Purvis and Billy Hutchinson. [60], In the 1980s, the UVF was greatly reduced by a series of police informers. [54] This was endorsed by Gusty Spence, who issued a statement asking all UVF volunteers to support the new regime. [30] There were bombings on 30 March, 4 April, 20 April, 24 April and 26 April. [36] It also continued its attacks in the Republic of Ireland, bombing the Dublin-Belfast railway line, an electricity substation, a radio mast, and Irish nationalist monuments. Read about our approach to external linking. This era also saw a more widespread targeting on the UVF's part of IRA and Sinn Fin members, beginning with the killing of senior IRA member Larry Marley[62] and a failed attempt on the life of a leading republican which left three Catholic civilians dead. It was during his time in the Maze prison that Spence began to talk politics and encouraged others to do the same. [112] The vast majority of its victims were Irish Catholic civilians, who were often killed at random. . The funeral of 78-year-old Gusty Spence, the former leader of the UVF paramilitary organisation, has taken place in Belfast. They were blamed by the PSNI on members of the UVF, who also said UVF guns had been used to try to kill police officers. Blood and rage: a cultural history of terrorism, "Granddaughter of victim says Gusty Spence was not a peacemaker", "Shankill shuts to pay its respects to UVF chief Gusty Spence", BBC News, Thursday, 3 May 2007, "Loyalist veteran's path to peace", Murders of Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine, Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gusty_Spence&oldid=1136743955, Loyalists imprisoned during the Northern Ireland conflict, People convicted of murder by Northern Ireland, People from Northern Ireland convicted of murder, Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Northern Ireland, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in Hiberno-English, Pages using infobox person with multiple parents, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 31 January 2023, at 22:44. [126] Later, in September 1972, Gusty Spence said in an interview that the organisation had a strength of 1,500. After several years away from the spotlight, Spence was again asked to read the statement, a role which senior loyalists said was indicative of his significance within Northern Ireland loyalism. He was the first RUC officer to be killed during the Troubles. [21] The group called itself the "Ulster Volunteer Force" (UVF), after the Ulster Volunteers of the early 20th century, although in the words of a member of the previous organisation "the present para-military organisation has no connection with the U.V.F. Home; About; Testimonials; Contact; Select Page. Thousands of families, mostly Catholics, were forced to flee their homes and refugee camps were set up in the Republic of Ireland. Independentie. In 1984, Gusty was released from prison, and became a leading figure in the Progressive Unionist Party and . Unable to find their target, the men drove around the Falls district in search of a Catholic. 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. This move came as the organisation held high-level discussions about its future. [10] Spence then found employment at the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast, where he worked as a stager (builder of the scaffolding in which the ships are constructed), a skilled job that commanded respect amongst working class Protestants and ensured for Spence a higher status within the Shankill. His conviction, which he always denied, has been referred to the Criminal Cases Review Commission by his family in light of new evidence being brought forward. Video, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. Brian Ervine said: "His contribution to the peace is incalculable and without him, probably the paramilitaries would still be at war. Sociologist Steven Bruce described the support networks in Canada as "the main source of support for loyalism outside the United Kingdom . The loyalist leader always denied responsibility and his family are now challenging the conviction. [46] This resulted in a sharp increase in sectarian killings and internecine feuding, both with the UDA and within the UVF itself. Spence's biographer Roy Garland said he had formed unlikely relationships and challenged conventional loyalist thinking. [2] He ran his part of the Maze along military lines, drilling inmates and training them in weapons use while also expecting a maintenance of discipline. Gusty Spence was a significant figure in loyalist Belfast for most of his life. "FIFTH REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT MONITORING COMMISSION", Select Committee on Northern Ireland Affairs - Part One: The continuing threat from paramilitary organisations, "Inside story: Why the IRA never attacked Scotland", "Revealed: how Scots loyalists sent gelignite to paramilitaries. [66] The UVF also killed senior IRA paramilitary members Liam Ryan, John 'Skipper' Burns and Larry Marley. [16] Their base of operations was the Standard Bar, a pub on the Shankill Road frequented by Spence and his allies (it was normal practice for UVF "teams" to be based at a single pub that its members used socially). The 78-year-old died in hospital at the weekend after a long illness. The ferry [between Scotland and Northern Ireland] was pivotal in getting arms into the north and anything like checkpoints, or armed police and Army in Scotland would have b******d that all up.[148] An Irish government memo written by David Donoghue stated: "The commonest contribution of Scots UDA and UVF is to send gelignite. When the Assets Recovery Agency won a High Court order to seize luxury homes belonging to ex-policeman Colin Robert Armstrong and his partner Geraldine Mallon in 2005, Alan McQuillan said "We have further alleged Armstrong has had links with the UVF and then the LVF following the split between those organisations." [7] His family had a long tradition of Orange Order membership. [149] It is estimated that the UVF nevertheless received hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations to its Loyalist Prisoners Welfare Association. Others who attended included Jeanette Irvine, the widow of the former PUP Assembly member, David Ervine, Dawn Purvis, the former PUP Assembly member who resigned from the party over the UVF's activities and the former Assembly member and former Human Rights Commissioner, Monica Mc Williams. Gusty Spence funeral to have no . [36] Catholic churches were also attacked. "[140], Protestants in Canada also supported the loyalist paramilitaries in the conflict. [21] This occurred despite Spence having been officially expelled from the Orange Order following his conviction. page 1. [13], His older brother Billy Spence was a founding member of Ulster Protestant Action (UPA) in 1956[14] and Gusty Spence himself was also a member of the group. In 1972, the UVF's imprisoned leader Gusty Spence was at liberty for four months following a staged kidnapping by UVF volunteers. [125] Members were disciplined after they carried out an unsanctioned theft of 8 million of paintings from an estate in Co Wicklow in April 1974. Two UVF members, Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville, were accidentally killed by their own bomb while carrying out this attack. On 7 May 1966, loyalists petrol bombed a Catholic-owned pub in the loyalist Shankill area of Belfast. [54], Spence died on 25 September 2011, aged 78, in a Belfast hospital;[53] he had been suffering from a long-term illness and was admitted to hospital 12 days prior to his death. Fifteen Catholic civilians were killed and seventeen wounded. Read about our approach to external linking. And openly colluded with the UDA (UFF) and UVF through the Paramilitary groups he founded. Scores of houses and businesses were burnt out, most of them owned by Catholics. [134] Like the IRA, the UVF also operated black taxi services,[135][136][137] a scheme believed to have generated 100,000 annually for the organisation. In the 1960s, he founded the modern Ulster Volunteer Force, an organisation which was responsible for hundreds of sectarian murders during the Troubles. Hundreds of mourners have attended the funeral of the former loyalist leader Gusty Spence. ", This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 06:47. Bistir na Seanchille. Hawara: 'What happened was horrific and barbaric'. Fire engulfed the house next door, badly burning the elderly Protestant widow who lived there. Eight people were shot dead and hundreds were injured. [45], In 1974, hardliners staged a coup and took over the Brigade Staff. Traduzioni in contesto per "ieri sono scese nelle strade" in italiano-inglese da Reverso Context: Decine di migliaia di persone ieri sono scese nelle strade di Atene, dando vita a uno sciopero generale che ha costretto la Grecia a fermarsi davanti alla protesta contro il piano di austerity imposto dall'UE, dalla Banca centrale europea di Francoforte e dall'FMI. [103], On 25 March 2022, the UVF was blamed[by whom?] [27] Spence appointed Samuel McClelland as UVF Chief of Staff in his stead. [15], Spence claimed that he was approached in 1965 by two men, one of whom was an Ulster Unionist Party MP, who told him that the Ulster Volunteer Force was to be re-established and that he was to have responsibility for the Shankill. During this time he restructured the organisation into brigades, battalions, companies, platoons and sections. Human error to blame for train crash - Greek PM, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. [2] He rose to the rank of Provost Sergeant (battalion police). [158] Loyalists in Portadown such as Bobby Jameson have stated that the LVF (the Mid-Ulster Brigade that broke away from the main UVF - and led by Billy Wright) was not a 'loyalist organisation but a drugs organisation causing misery in Portadown. "The Dublin and Monaghan bombings: Cover-up and incompetence". Gusty Spence (1933-2011) was a Loyalist paramilitary volunteer, a founding member and early leader of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). They shot dead John Scullion (28), a Catholic civilian, as he walked home. [5] He was educated at the Riddel School on Malvern Street and the Hemsworth Square school, finishing his education aged fourteen. [24] On 21 May, the group issued a statement: From this day, we declare war against the Irish Republican Army and its splinter groups. Spence told Radio Ulster that the UVF had been "engaged in murder, attempted murder of civilians, attempted murder of police officers. [citation needed], On 26 March 2022, the UVF was linked to a hoax bomb alert at a bar in Warrenpoint, County Down. 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. Gusty Spence was a significant figure in loyalist Belfast for most of . Spence said loyalists offered "abject and true remorse" to the loved ones of all the innocent victims of the Troubles. [41] Furthermore, the VPP suffered a heavy defeat in West Belfast in the October 1974 general election, when the DUP candidate John McQuade captured six times as many votes as the VPP's Ken Gibson. [40] However, Spence's ideas were abandoned as the UVF ceasefire fell apart that same year following the Ulster Workers' Council strike and the Dublin and Monaghan bombings; the carnage of the latter had shocked and horrified Spence. [91], In July 2011, a UVF flag flying in Limavady was deemed legal by the PSNI after the police had received complaints about the flag from nationalist politicians. A number of friends and family members spoke at the service at St Michael's Church of Ireland on the Shankill Road. Two members of the group survived the attack and later testified against those responsible. Reverend Chris Hudson, who helped broker contacts between loyalist paramilitaries and the Irish government, said that aspect of the statement was significant. Spence is regarded as the first terrorist godfather in Northern Ireland but also the man who took the first steps towards ending UVF violence. Video, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story, Harry and Meghan told to 'vacate' Frogmore Cottage, Dozens of girls treated after new Iran poisonings, Rare Jurassic-era bug found at Arkansas Walmart, Ed Sheeran says wife developed tumour in pregnancy, China and Belarus call for peace in Ukraine, Covid origin likely China lab incident - FBI chief, Man survives 31 days in jungle by eating worms, Havana Syndrome unlikely to have hostile cause - US. In 1984, Gusty was released from prison, and the Hemsworth Square School finishing... Their homes and refugee camps were set up a paramilitary-style wing called the Ulster volunteers. 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