James Pratt Craig (17 November 1941 – 15 October 1988) was a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary during

The Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...

in Northern Ireland in the latter half of the 20th century, who was a member of the

Ulster Defence Association The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 as an umbrella group for various loyalist groups and undertook an armed campaign of almost 24 years as one of t ...

(UDA), and a command member of its Inner Council.Wood, pp. 119–20 He also ran a criminal large-scale protection racket from the West

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

Shankill Road The Shankill Road () is one of the main roads leading through West Belfast, in Northern Ireland. It runs through the working-class, predominantly loyalist, area known as the Shankill. The road stretches westwards for about from central Belfast ...

area, where he resided. Described by journalist

David McKittrick David McKittrick (born 1949) is a Belfast-born journalist who has reported on Northern Ireland since 1971. Professional career McKittrick began his career as a reporter for the ''East Antrim Times''. He joined the ''Irish Times'' in 1973 as a r ...

as "Belfast's foremost paramilitary extortionist",McKittrick, David
"Exposure sealed fate of notorious activists"
''The Independent'', 24 August 2000. Retrieved 17 March 2011. Craig allegedly colluded at times with the enemies of the UDA, Irish Republican groups such as the

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...

(IRA) and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), providing them with information on key loyalists which led to their subsequent murders. Aside from controlling rackets and extorting protection money from a variety of businesses, it was claimed that Craig also participated in paramilitary murders. He was accused by the

Ulster Volunteer Force The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former British Army soldier from Northern Ireland. The group undertook an armed campaign ...

(UVF) of setting up the assassinations of some of their key members by IRA hit squads, such as

Shankill Butcher The Shankill Butchers were an Ulster loyalist gang—many of whom were members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)—that was active between 1975 and 1982 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was based in the Shankill area and was responsible for t ...

members

Lenny Murphy Hugh Leonard Thompson Murphy (2 March 1952 – 16 November 1982) was a Northern Irish loyalist and UVF officer. As leader of the Shankill Butchers gang, Murphy was responsible for many murders, mainly of Catholic civilians, often first kidna ...

John Bingham John Armor Bingham (January 21, 1815 – March 19, 1900) was an American politician who served as a Republican Party (United States), Republican representative from Ohio and as the United States ambassador to Japan. In his time as a congress ...

, and William "Frenchie" Marchant in the 1980s. Craig was himself killed by the UDA, using their cover name of the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), for alleged "treason" as it was believed he had passed information to the IRA regarding South Belfast UDA commander

John McMichael John McMichael (9 January 1948 – 22 December 1987) was a Northern Irish loyalist who rose to become the most prominent and charismatic figure within the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) as the Deputy Commander and leader of its South Belf ...

, who was killed by an IRA booby-trap car bomb in December 1987. Craig was shot dead in The Castle Inn, a pub in Beersbridge Road, East Belfast.

Ulster Defence Association

Beginnings

James Pratt Craig, known as Jim, was born in

in 1941 and grew up in an

Ulster Protestant Ulster Protestants ( ga, Protastúnaigh Ultach) are an ethnoreligious group in the Irish province of Ulster, where they make up about 43.5% of the population. Most Ulster Protestants are descendants of settlers who arrived from Britain in the ...

family on the

.CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths – 1988 In the early 1970s, Craig, a former boxer, was sent to the

Maze Prison Her Majesty's Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as The Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house alleged paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to Sep ...

for a criminal offence unrelated to paramilitary activities. While serving his sentence at the Maze he joined the

(UDA),Dillon, p. 264 and he was asked by the organisation's commander at the time,

Charles Harding Smith Charles Harding Smith (24 January 1931 – 1997) was a loyalist leader in Northern Ireland and the first effective leader of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). An important figure in the Belfast-based "defence associations" that formed the ba ...

to take control of the UDA prisoners inside, on account of his reputation as a "hard man".

Criminal activities

After his release in 1976,Wood, Ian S. (2006). ''Crimes of Loyalty: a History of the UDA''. Edinburgh University Press, p. 127. he set up a large protection racket and became the UDA's chief fundraiser; by 1985 he had managed to blackmail and extort money from a number of construction firms, building sites, as well as pubs, clubs, and shops in Belfast and elsewhere in Northern Ireland, whose intimidated owners paid protection money out of fear of Craig and his associates. It was alleged that the UDA received hundreds of thousands of pounds some of which also found their way inside Craig's pockets as part of his "commission".Taylor, Peter (1999). ''Loyalists''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., p. 170; He was acquitted on a firearm charge and Ulster Freedom Fighters (a cover name for the UDA) membership on 18 March 1982.BBC Northern Ireland News. Broadcast 18 March 1982. Retrieved 2 June 2015 In 1985, Craig was brought to court after a number of businessmen decided to testify against him, with the condition that their identities remained hidden. The case fell apart when Craig's defence argued that his client's rights were violated by the concealment of the witnesses' identities. Craig was alleged to have been involved in the double killing of a Catholic man and a Protestant man on the Shankill Road in 1977. The men, both work colleagues, had entered a loyalist club and were later stabbed, shot and put into a car which was set on fire. By this time the

West Belfast UDA The UDA West Belfast Brigade is the section of the Ulster loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), based in the western quarter of Belfast, in the Greater Shankill area. Initially a battalion, the West Belfast Brigade emer ...

no longer wanted him in their ranks, as they claimed they could no longer "afford him". Craig, who was ordered to leave the Shankill Road, went on to join forces with John McMichael's South Belfast Brigade. In addition to being the principal fundraiser, Craig also sat on the UDA's Inner Council. Craig usually travelled in the company of his bodyguard Artie Fee, a UDA member from the Shankill Road. The rival

(UVF) carried out an investigation after it was rumoured Craig had been involved in the death of UVF major William Marchant, who was gunned down by

Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...

gunmen from a passing car on the Shankill Road on 28 April 1987. Marchant was the third high-ranking UVF man to be killed by the IRA during the 1980s. Although their inquiries revealed that Craig had quarrelled with Marchant as well as

and

prior to their killings, the UVF felt that there was not enough evidence to warrant an attack on such a powerful UDA figure as Craig. In December 1987, when South Belfast UDA brigadier John McMichael was blown up by an IRA booby-trap car bomb outside his home in Lisburn's Hilden estate, it was believed that Craig had organised his death with the IRA. Allegedly Craig had feared McMichael was about to expose his racketeering business, thus putting an end to his lucrative operation.Taylor, p. 171 McMichael had reportedly set up an inquiry and discovered that Craig was spending money on a lavish scale, going on holidays at least twice a year and indulging in a "champagne lifestyle".Dillon, p. 266 At the same time it was suggested that Craig had made certain deals with Irish republican paramilitary groups, dividing up the rackets in west Belfast, and he would have been doing the IRA a favour by helping them to eliminate a high-profile loyalist such as McMichael. Craig had established links with republicans during his time in prison, and the profitable deals and exchanges of information between them ensured he would most likely not be a target for IRA assassination. Craig was named as an extortionist in Central Television's 1987 programme ''

The Cook Report ''The Cook Report'' was a British ITV current affairs television programme presented by Roger Cook which was broadcast from 22 July 1987 to 24 August 1999. The series featured the journalist investigating corruption, criminals, government so ...

''. Craig planned to sue the programme's producers for libel; in January 1988, Jack Kielty (father of future television presenter

Patrick Kielty Patrick Kielty (born 31 January 1971) is a Northern Irish comedian and television personality. Background Kielty was born in County Down, Northern Ireland, and grew up in the village of Dundrum. He is one of three sons born to the businessm ...

), a building contractor from County Down who had promised to testify as a key witness against Craig, was murdered by the UDA. This killing was attributed to Craig, although it was never proven.

Death

Craig was shot dead by two gunmen from the UDA in "The Castle Inn" (later called "The Bunch of Grapes"), a pub in Beersbridge Road, east Belfast on 15 October 1988, to where he had been lured in the belief that there was to have been a UDA meeting. He was playing pool in the pub at the time of his fatal shooting by the two men, both of whom were wearing boiler suits and ski masks and carrying automatic weapons.Wood, p. 134 Upon spotting Craig they opened fire, spraying the room with gunfire. Craig died instantly; a bystander pensioner was also murdered in the attack, and four other bystanders were wounded by stray bullets. The UDA claimed the killing was carried out due to Craig's "treason" and involvement in John McMichael's murder as they knew he had provided the IRA with information to successfully carry out the assassination. They apologised for the unintentional death of the pensioner. Craig was not given a paramilitary funeral, and none of the UDA's command attended it.

Andy Tyrie Andrew Tyrie (born 5 February 1940) is a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary leader who served as commander of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) during much of its early history. He took the place of Tommy Herron in 1973 when the latter was ...

, the UDA's former supreme commander, was not convinced of Craig's complicity in McMichael's killing. In an interview with

Peter Taylor Peter Taylor may refer to: Arts * Peter Taylor (writer) (1917–1994), American author, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction * Peter Taylor (film editor) (1922–1997), English film editor, winner of an Academy Award for Film Editing Politi ...

, he stated that after McMichael's death, the UDA set up an inquiry, but couldn't find any solid proof which linked Craig to McMichael's assassination. Tyrie maintained that the two men had been good friends, and that Craig had given McMichael £20,000 to keep the latter's pub (''The Admiral Benbow'') from failing. Tyrie suggested that Craig was a suspect because his wife was

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. Tyrie insisted that John Hanna, a prison officer in the Maze, had supplied the IRA with information about McMichael through

Rosena Brown Rosena Brown ( ga, Róisín De Brún; born c.1945) is an Irish actress of television, cinema, and stage from Belfast, Northern Ireland who also served as an intelligence officer for the Provisional IRA. Dubbed the "IRA Mata Hari", McMichael's son, Gary, however, firmly believed Craig to have been the person behind his father's killing.Wood, p. 135 Less than three months after McMichael's death, Tyrie himself narrowly escaped an attempt on his life by car bomb; he subsequently tendered his resignation as commander.

Reputation

According to McKittrick, Craig's "notoriety and range of enemies meant he could have been killed by almost any paramilitary group, loyalist or republican". Described as stocky of build, he wore expensive clothing and jewellery, and enjoyed a lavish lifestyle from the proceeds of his racketeering. Author and journalist

Martin Dillon Martin Dillon (born 2 June 1949) is an Irish author, journalist, and broadcaster. He has won international acclaim for his investigative reporting and non-fiction works on The Troubles, including his bestselling trilogy, ''The Shankill Butcher ...

wrote that Craig was not intelligent but was "cunning, boastful and ruthless". There was also much antipathy between him and UDA brigadier Tommy "Tucker" Lyttle due to Craig having allegedly made Lyttle's daughter pregnant. Lyttle died of natural causes in October 1995. It was later revealed that Lyttle had worked as an informer for the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)'s Special Branch. Craig reportedly invited RUC officers to an extravagant wedding reception held for his daughter. Author

Sally Belfrage Sally Belfrage (October 4, 1936 – March 14, 1994) was a United States-born British-based 20th century non-fiction writer and international journalist. Her writing covered turmoils in Northern Ireland, the American Civil Rights Movement and her ...

who encountered Craig at an "

Eleventh night In Northern Ireland, the Eleventh Night or 11th Night, also known as "bonfire night", is the night before the Twelfth of July, an Ulster Protestant celebration. On this night, large towering bonfires are lit in Protestant loyalist neighbourhood ...

" party held at the UDA's east Belfast headquarters, summed him up as "the most personally powerful man I had ever met, with an air of animal force that inspired awe at the idea of its ever being let loose. He was also as drunk as I had ever seen anyone in my life who could still more or less negotiate a sentence and a sequence of steps." She claimed Craig had propositioned her; when she rebuffed his advances he took it in his stride, and grabbing a microphone, went on to lead the other revellers in a rendition of "

The Sash My Father Wore "The Sash" (also known as "The Sash My Father Wore") is a ballad from the Irish province of Ulster commemorating the victory of King William III in the Williamite War in Ireland in 1690–1691. The lyrics mention the 1689 Siege of Derry, the 1689 ...

". Dillon, in his book about the violent loyalist gang, the

Shankill Butchers The Shankill Butchers were an Ulster loyalist gang—many of whom were members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)—that was active between 1975 and 1982 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was based in the Shankill area and was responsible for t ...

, recounted how Craig casually killed a man in a UDA club after a fellow UDA member handed him a jammed pistol. Craig, testing the weapon, allegedly pointed it at a man who was playing pool, and shot him in the head, killing him instantly. Craig then gave orders for the man's body to be dumped in an adjacent alley. Dillon believes Craig had had UDA commander William "Bucky" McCullough killed in October 1981 after the latter discovered Craig had been stealing funds from the UDA for his own personal use. The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) had claimed responsibility for the killing.

Jackie McDonald John "Jackie" McDonald (born 2 August 1947) is a Northern Irish loyalist and the incumbent Ulster Defence Association (UDA) brigadier for South Belfast, having been promoted to the rank by former UDA commander Andy Tyrie in 1988, following J ...

, who was part of Craig's protection racket, was arrested in 1989. He had taken over McMichael's command of the South Belfast UDA, having been promoted to the rank of brigadier by Andy Tyrie in 1988. In January 1990, he was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment inside the Maze for extortion, blackmail, and intimidation. McDonald was released in 1994. In an interview with Peter Taylor, he made the following statement regarding his former association with Craig:

I would say without a shadow of doubt the worst thing that ever happened to South Belfast, John McMichael and myself especially, was that Jim Craig ever had anything to do with our organisation.

One builder who later assisted the RUC when they set up an anti-racketeering unit, admitted that he had paid out protection money throughout the 1980s to Craig and his henchmen. The amount of money he handed over increased each year.Taylor, p. 171. In 1983, the builder paid Craig and his men the sum of £3,000; in 1984 it rose to £4,000, in 1985 it went up to £4,400, in 1986 it had increased to £5,400; and by 1987 he was forced to £7,800. Dillon suggested that prior to Craig's killing, younger elements within the UDA, who were loyal supporters of McMichael, discovered (by means which Dillon did not divulge) that the RUC's anti-racketeering squad CI3 had videotaped a clandestine meeting between Craig and a member of the IRA's Northern Command, which is what reportedly sealed Craig's fate.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Craig, James (loyalist) 1941 births 1988 deaths Ulster Defence Association members Paramilitaries from Belfast Loyalists imprisoned during the Northern Ireland conflict People killed by the Ulster Defence Association Deaths by firearm in Northern Ireland