Robert William Bates (12 December 1948 – 11 June 1997) was a Northern Irish loyalist. He was a member of 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 ...

and the infamous

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 ...

gang, led by

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 ...

."From killer to victim: Basher's death sums up the futility of the Troubles"
''The Independent'', 12 June 1997, retrieved 26 September 2009

Shankill Butchers

Bates was born into 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 and grew up in the

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 of

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 ...

. He had a criminal record dating back to 1966, and later became a member of the

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 within the United Kingdom, and oppose a u ...

paramilitary organisation, the

(UVF). Bates, employed as a barman at the Long Bar, was recruited into the Shankill Butchers gang in 1975 by its notorious ringleader,

. The gang used The Brown Bear pub, a Shankill Road drinking haunt frequented by the UVF, as its headquarters. Bates, a "sergeant" in the gang's hierarchy, was an avid participant in the brutal torture and savage killings perpetrated against innocent Catholics after they were abducted from nationalist streets and driven away in a black taxi owned by fellow Shankill Butcher, William Moore. The killings typically involved grisly-throat slashings preceded by lengthy beatings and torture. Bates was said to have been personally responsible for beating James Moorhead, 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 ...

, to death on 30 January 1977 and to have played a central role in the kidnapping and murder of Catholic Joseph Morrisey three days later. He also killed Thomas Quinn, a derelict, on 8 February 1976 and the following day was involved in shooting dead Archibald Hanna and Raymond Carlisle, two Protestant workmen that Bates and Murphy mistook for Catholics.

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 ...

revealed that Bates was also one of the four UVF gunmen who carried out a mass shooting in the

Chlorane Bar attack The Chlorane Bar attack was a mass shooting at a city centre pub on 5 June 1976 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was carried out by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), an Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisation, apparently in retaliation for the ...

in Belfast city centre on 5 June 1976. Five people (three Catholics and two Protestants) were shot dead. The UVF unit had burst into the pub in Gresham Street and ordered the Catholics and Protestants to line up on opposite ends of the bar before they opened fire. He later recounted his role in the attack to police; however, he had claimed that he never fired any shots due to his revolver having malfunctioned. Forensics evidence contradicted him as it proved that his revolver had been fired inside the Chlorane Bar that night.Dillon, pp. 125–135 Lenny Murphy was in police custody at the time the shooting attack against the Chlorane Bar took place. Bates was arrested in 1977, along with Moore and other "Shankill Butcher" accomplices.Taylor, p. 154 His arrest followed a sustained attack by Moore and Sam McAllister on Catholic Gerard McLaverty, after which they dumped his body, presuming him dead. However McLaverty survived and identified Moore and McAllister to the Royal Ulster Constabulary who drove him up and down the Shankill Road during a loyalist parade until he saw his attackers. During questioning both men implicated Bates, and other gang members, leading to their arrests. Following a long period spent on remand, he was convicted in February 1979 of murder related to the Shankill Butcher killings and given ten life sentences, with a recommendation by the trial judge, Mr Justice O'Donnell, that he should never be released.

In prison

At the start of his sentence, Bates was involved in a series of violent incidents involving other inmates. Bates later claimed that he had perpetrated these acts in order to live up to his "Basher" nickname. He served as company commander of the UVF inmates and became noted as a stern disciplinarian.McKittirck et al, ''Lost Lives'', p. 1411 However while in 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 ...

, he was said to have "found God", and as a result became a born-again Christian. He produced a prison testimony, which was later reprinted in ''The Burning Bush'', and, after publicly advocating an end to violence, was transferred to HMP Maghaberry. In prison, Bates formed a friendship with

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 ...

member and fellow detainee

Brendan Hughes Brendan Hughes (June 1948 – 16 February 2008), also known as "The Dark", and "Darkie" was a leading Irish republican and former Officer Commanding (OC) of the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). He was the leader ...

. Bates foiled a UVF assassination plot on Hughes. It has been alleged that his image appears on the cover of ''

Searching for the Young Soul Rebels ''Searching for the Young Soul Rebels'' is the debut studio album by English pop group Dexys Midnight Runners, released on 11 July 1980, through Parlophone and EMI Records. Led by Kevin Rowland, the group formed in 1978 in Birmingham, England, and ...

'' by

Dexy's Midnight Runners Dexys Midnight Runners (currently officially Dexys, their former nickname, styled without an apostrophe) are an English pop rock band from Birmingham, with soul influences, who achieved major commercial success in the early to mid-1980s. They a ...

Early release and death

In October 1996, 18 months prior to the signing of the

Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...

, Bates was cleared for early release by the Life Sentence Review Board. He was given the opportunity of participating in a rehabilitation scheme, spending the day on a work placement and returning to prison at night."Shankill Butcher is Freed"
''Belfast Telegraph'', 26 October 1996 As he arrived for work in his native Shankill area of Belfast early on the morning of 11 June 1997,"Conflict Related Deaths 1997"
British Irish Rights Watch, retrieved 27 September 2009 Bates was shot dead by the son of a UDA man he had killed in 1977. The killer identified himself to Bates as the son of his victim before opening fire. Bates had been working at the Ex-Prisoners Interpretative Centre (EPIC), a drop-in centre for former loyalist prisoners.David McKittrick et al, ''Lost Lives'', Mainstream Publishing, 2008, p. 1410 Bates's killing had not been sanctioned by the UDA leadership but nevertheless they refused to agree to UVF demands that the killer should be handed over to them, instead exiling him from the Shankill. He was rehoused in the

Taughmonagh Taughmonagh () is a small housing estate in south west Belfast, Northern Ireland, within the civil parishes of Drumbeg and Shankill, and barony of Belfast Upper. When the area was first built, the houses consisted of very basic, small, prefabr ...

area where he quickly became an important figure in the local UDA as a part of Jackie McDonald's South Belfast Brigade. Bates's name was subsequently included on the

banner A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Als ...

of a prominent

Orange Lodge The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants, particularly those of Ulster Scots heritage. It als ...

on the

, called ''Old Boyne Island Heroes''. Relatives of Shankill butchers victims Cornelius Neeson condemned the banner, stating that "it hurts the memory of those the butchers killed". A fellow Lodge member and former friend of Bates defended the inclusion of his name to journalist

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 ...

: "I knew him very well and he'd been a personal friend for twenty or thirty years and to me he was a gentleman".Taylor, p. 152 He went on to describe him as having been "an easy-going, decent fellow, and as far as the Lodge is concerned, a man of good-standing". He was a buried in a Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster ceremony by Reverend Alan Smylie.Steve Bruce, ''Paisley: Religion and Politics in Northern Ireland'', Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 221 Bates's funeral was attended by a large representation from local Orange Lodges. Peace activist

Mairead Maguire Mairead MaguireFairmichael, p. 28: "Mairead Corrigan, now Mairead Maguire, married her former brother-in-law, Jackie Maguire, and they have two children of their own as well as three by Jackie's previous marriage to Ann Maguire." (born 27 Januar ...

was also amongst the mourners, arguing that Bates had "repented, asked for forgiveness and showed great remorse for what he had done", whilst a memorial service held at the spot of his killing two days after the funeral was attended by Father Gerry Reynolds of

Clonard Monastery Clonard Monastery is a Catholic church located off the Falls Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and home to a community of the Redemptorists religious order. History In late 19th century Belfast, the Catholic population grew to such an extent ...

Bibliography

*Cusack, Jim & McDonald, Henry (2008). ''UVF: Endgame''. Dublin: Poolbeg. *Taylor, Peter (1999). ''Loyalists''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bates, Robert 1948 births 1997 deaths Deaths by firearm in Northern Ireland Irish mass murderers Irish serial killers Loyalists imprisoned during the Northern Ireland conflict Male serial killers Murdered serial killers People convicted of murder by Northern Ireland Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Northern Ireland Shankill Butchers Ulster Volunteer Force members