UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade formed part of the

loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British C ...

paramilitary

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 ...

in Northern Ireland. The brigade was established in

Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh. Lurgan is about south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin railway line. It had a population ...

, County Armagh in 1972 by its first commander

Billy Hanna William Henry Wilson Hanna MM (c.1929 – 27 July 1975) was a high-ranking Ulster loyalist who founded and led the Mid-Ulster Brigade of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) until he was killed, allegedly by Robin Jackson, who took over comma ...

. The unit operated mainly around the Lurgan and

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...

areas. Subsequent leaders of the brigade were

Robin Jackson Robert John Jackson (27 September 1948 – 30 May 1998), also known as The Jackal, was a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary and part-time soldier. He was a senior officer in the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) during the period of viole ...

, known as "The Jackal", and Billy Wright. The Mid-Ulster Brigade carried out many attacks, mainly in Northern Ireland, especially in the South Armagh area, but it also extended its operational reach into the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. ...

. Two of the most notorious attacks in the history of

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 "i ...

were carried out by the Mid-Ulster Brigade: the 1974

Dublin and Monaghan bombings Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ce ...

and the

Miami Showband killings The Miami Showband killings (also called the Miami Showband massacre) was an attack on 31 July 1975 by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a loyalist paramilitary group. It took place on the A1 road at Buskhill in County Down, Northern Ireland. ...

in 1975. Members of the Mid-Ulster Brigade were part of the

Glenanne gang The Glenanne gang or Glenanne group was a secret informal alliance of Ulster loyalists who carried out shooting and bombing attacks against Catholics and Irish nationalists in the 1970s, during the Troubles.

which the

Pat Finucane Centre The Pat Finucane Centre (PFC) is a human rights advocacy and lobbying entity in Northern Ireland. Named in honour of murdered solicitor Pat Finucane, it operates advice centres in Derry and Newry, dealing mainly with complaints from Irish nati ...

has since linked to at least 87 lethal attacks in the 1970s. The brigade has been active since 1972. The Portadown unit along with the brigade's leader Billy Wright was officially stood down on 2 August 1996 by the UVF's Brigade Staff (its

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 ...

leadership) following the brigade's killing of a Catholic taxi driver during a UVF ceasefire. The brigade, however, continued to function in the mid-Ulster area. In 2000–2001 the Mid-Ulster Brigade was involved in an acrimonious feud with the

Loyalist Volunteer Force The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) is a small Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed by Billy Wright in 1996 when he and his unit split from the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) after breaking its ceasefire. Most of ...

(LVF), the group set up by Billy Wright. It was during this feud that Mid-Ulster brigadier Richard Jameson was shot dead by the LVF.

Beginnings

The Mid-Ulster Brigade was established by senior

(UVF) member William Henry Wilson Hanna, known as "Billy", who sat on its Brigade Staff, which was the UVF's ruling council based on 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 ...

. Hanna served as a sergeant and permanent staff instructor (PSI) in the

Ulster Defence Regiment The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was an infantry regiment of the British Army established in 1970, with a comparatively short existence ending in 1992. Raised through public appeal, newspaper and television advertisements,Potter p25 their offi ...

(UDR), and was a decorated war hero who won the Military Medal for gallantry in the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

when he served in the

Royal Ulster Rifles The Royal Irish Rifles (became the Royal Ulster Rifles from 1 January 1921) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army, first created in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 83rd (County of Dublin) Regiment of Foot and the 86th (Royal County ...

.London Gazette
/ref> Hanna started the UVF brigade in his home town of

in 1972 with the full endorsement of imprisoned UVF leader

Gusty Spence Augustus Andrew Spence (28 June 1933
. ''

Spence had spent four months out of prison in 1972 when his false kidnapping was staged by the UVF in July after he had been given leave by prison authorities to attend his daughter's wedding. During his period of freedom he had restructured the UVF on its original 1913 lines by adding brigades, battalions, companies, platoons, and sections. He also managed to procure weaponry. On 23 October 1972 an armed UVF gang raided a UDR/ Territorial Army depot in Lurgan and stole a large cache of sophisticated guns and ammunition.Taylor, p.112 Spence was recaptured by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

and sent back to prison in November. By 1972 the

Provisional IRA 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 re ...

's bombing campaign had escalated in its intensity, which triggered a violent response from loyalist paramilitary groups such as the UVF and

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). When the religious and political conflict that came to be known as "

" had broken out in the late 1960s, unionists had immediately formed vigilante groups, ostensibly to protect loyalist areas from

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

attacks. These had gone on to merge into larger umbrella paramilitary organisations. Hanna, who held the rank of brigadier, appointed himself the brigade's commander, and personally recruited and trained young men from the

and Lurgan areas who were "prepared to defend Ulster at any cost".Dublin and Monaghan Bombings: Cover-up and incompetence – page 2". ''Politico''. Joe Tiernan. 3 May 2007
These included Robin "the Jackal" Jackson, Harris Boyle, Wesley Somerville, David Alexander Mulholland, and William Fulton, among others. When a new member was sworn into the UVF, he was brought before a table, which was flanked by two masked men and presided over by another; on the table rested the Ulster banner and a gun. Under Hanna's leadership the Mid-Ulster Brigade became the deadliest loyalist paramilitary group outside Belfast. According to journalist Joe Tiernan, at least 100 Catholics and a number of Protestants, almost exclusively civilians, were all murdered by this nominally illegal terror cell. Tiernan also suggested that Hanna carried out bank and post office robberies and intimidated local businessmen into paying protection money to the Mid-Ulster UVF. Hanna was eventually expelled from the UDR on account of his UVF activity.McKittrick, David (1999). ''Lost Lives''. UK: Mainstream Publications. p.554 The Mid-Ulster UVF had always operated as a semi-autonomous, self-contained group maintaining its distance from the Belfast leadership, even if Hanna did have a seat on the Brigade Staff. Journalist Brendan O'Brien stated that the UVF had derived its greatest strength as well as the organisation's most ruthless members from its Mid-Ulster Brigade.O'Brien, Brendan (1999). ''The Long War: the IRA and Sinn Féin''. Second Edition. Syracuse University Press. p.92 Author Don Mullan described the brigade as one of the most ruthless battalions operating in the 1970s.Mullan, Don; Scally, John; Irwin, Margaret (2000). ''The Dublin and Monaghan Bombings''. Dublin: Wolfhound Press. p.205 A 2011

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, whil ...

documentary ''Bombings'' called it an "efficient sectarian killing machine".Bombings: Programme Four: Miami Showband. Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2011 It covered a wide area of operations, drawing membership from Portadown, southern

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. ...

Dungannon Dungannon () is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (after Omagh) and had a population of 14,340 at the 2011 Census. The Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council had its headquarters in t ...

Armagh Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , "Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the ...

, Lurgan,

Cookstown Cookstown ( ga, An Chorr Chríochach, IPA: �anˠˈxoːɾˠɾˠˈçɾʲiːxəx is a small town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the fourth largest town in the county and had a population of 11,599 in the 2011 census. It, along with Magh ...

, and rural settlements near these towns, although it had little or no membership in

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 ...

, where loyalist paramilitaries never joined the

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Roya ...

(RUC) and British Army as the defenders of choice in the eyes of local unionists to the degree they did elsewhere. The UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade was part of the

, a collaboration between loyalist paramilitaries, the police, and members of the security forces. This group carried out a series of terrorist attacks and murders targeting Catholic civilians, mainly in the South Armagh area, in the 1970s. Composed of members of the UVF, UDR, RUC,

(UDA), and covert agents, the

attributes at least 87 violent attacks to this . According to Lethal Allies, permutations of the group killed about 120 people – almost all of whom were Catholic civilians with no links to Irish republican paramilitaries. The Cassel Report investigated 76 killings attributed to the group and found evidence that UDR soldiers and RUC officers were involved in 74 of those. John Weir said his superiors knew he was working with loyalist paramilitaries but allowed it to continue. The Cassel Report also said that some senior officers knew of the crimes but did nothing to prevent, investigate or punish. It has been established that some key members were double agents working for the Intelligence Corps and the

RUC Special Branch RUC Special Branch was the Special Branch of the Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constab ...

. It was allegedly directed by the Intelligence Corps and the RUC Special Branch. Its name derived from a farm in Glenanne, County Armagh which was owned by RUC reservist James Mitchell. It was Hanna who first approached Mitchell and obtained permission to use the farm as a UVF arms dump and bomb-making site. The UVF was a proscribed paramilitary organisation since its formation in 1966; however the ban was lifted on 4 April 1974 by

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

Merlyn Rees Merlyn Merlyn-Rees, Baron Merlyn-Rees, (né Merlyn Rees; 18 December 1920 – 5 January 2006) was a British Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament from 1963 until 1992. He served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1974–197 ...

in an effort to bring the group into the democratic process. The UVF was once more outlawed by the British government in October 1975, though this had minimal effect as many members were also working for the RUC or British security forces charged with enforcing such laws. Furthermore, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) remained legal as well.Taylor, Peter (1999). ''Loyalists''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. p.124

Notorious attacks

The Mid-Ulster Brigade carried out two of the most notorious attacks in the history of the Troubles. The first took place on 17 May 1974. Organised and led by Billy Hanna, with Robin Jackson of the Lurgan unit playing a key role, the Mid-Ulster Brigade, along with a team from Belfast, planted three car bombs in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

.Taylor, p.125 The devices exploded minutes apart in the city centre during evening rush hour causing the deaths of 26 people – mostly young women – and almost 300 injuries. The bombs had been so well constructed that 100 per cent of each bomb had exploded upon detonation. Hanna had been the mastermind behind the building and planning of the bombings, and Jackson had transported the bombs across the Republic of Ireland border in his poultry lorry accompanied by Hanna, who then primed them at the Coachman's Inn pub carpark on the

Swords Road The M1 motorway ( ga, Mótarbhealach M1) is a motorway in Ireland. It forms the large majority of the N1 national primary road connecting Dublin towards Belfast along the east of the island of Ireland. The route heads north via Swords, Drogheda ...

. Hanna and Jackson subsequently loaded the devices inside the boots of the three allocated cars, and the former instructed the three drivers to park the car bombs in Parnell Street,

Talbot Street Talbot Street (; ) is a city-centre street located on Dublin's Northside, near to Dublin Connolly railway station. It was laid out in the 1840s and a number of 19th-century buildings still survive. The Irish Life Mall is on the street. Locati ...

, and South Leinster Street. Ninety minutes after the three Dublin blasts, a fourth car bomb went off in

Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Ireland. It also provides the name of its civil parish and barony. The population of the town as of the 2016 census was 7,678. The town is on the N2 road from Dublin to Derry and Let ...

, killing another seven people, bringing the total of deaths to 33. No warnings were given for these attacks which brought about the greatest loss of life in a single day in the history of the Troubles. Another Mid-Ulster unit from Portadown, allegedly led by local commander Stewart Young, had carried out the Monaghan attack. Nobody was ever charged in relation to any of the four bombings. RUC

Special Patrol Group The Special Patrol Group (SPG) was a unit of Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, responsible for providing a centrally based mobile capacity to combat serious public disorder, crime, and terrorism, that could not be dealt with by loca ...

officer, John Weir, who worked with the Mid-Ulster UVF, stated in an affidavit that Hanna and Jackson had led one of the Dublin bombing teams."Seeing Red", John Weir's Affidavit, Statement by John Weir, 03.01.99. #13. Retrieved 23 June 2011
Weir's statement was published in the 2003 Barron Report, which was the findings of a judicial inquiry into the 1974 bombings commissioned by Irish Supreme Court Justice Henry BarronJoint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights, Interim Report on the Report of the Independent Inquiry into the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings, December 2003. pp.141–162. Retrieved 23 June 2011
/ref> In 1993 Yorkshire Television aired a documentary about the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, ''The Hidden Hand: The Forgotten Massacre''. The narrator named Billy Hanna and Robin Jackson as two of the Dublin bomb team. The two men were also alleged to have had links with the Intelligence Corps and Captain Robert Nairac.The Barron Report 2003, Appendices: ''The Hidden Hand: The Forgotten Massacre''
/ref> Weir stated in his affidavit that Robin Jackson was an

agent and therefore "untouchable". Former British soldier and

psychological warfare Psychological warfare (PSYWAR), or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations (PsyOp), have been known by many other names or terms, including Military Information Support Operations (MISO), Psy Ops, political warfare, "Hearts and M ...

operative Major Colin Wallace confirmed this, stating in a letter he had written to a friend in 1975 that he had been told the previous year that Jackson worked as an agent for the RUC's Special Branch.The Barron Report 2003, p.172 Journalist Joe Tiernan claimed in his book ''The Dublin Bombings and the Murder Triangle'' that Hanna was an Intelligence Corps agent and that middle-ranking officers of the corps based at the British Army Headquarters in

Lisburn Lisburn (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with ...

were frequent visitors to his Houston Park home in the Mourneville estate in Lurgan. They supplied him with weapons and petrol for his car. Hanna also regularly invited British soldiers to his house for "cups of tea".Tiernan, Joe (2000). ''The Dublin Bombings and the Murder Triangle''. Ireland: Mercier Press. pp.89–90 On 27 July 1975, Billy Hanna was shot dead outside his home in Lurgan, allegedly by Robin Jackson, who assumed command of the Mid-Ulster Brigade.Tiernan, Joe (2000). ''The Dublin Bombings and the Murder Triangle''. Ireland:Mercier Press. pp.110–111 Four days later, under the auspices of Robin Jackson, the Mid-Ulster Brigade carried out an attack against

The Miami Showband The Miami Showband were an Irish showband in the 1960s and 1970s led firstly in 1962 by singer Jimmy Harte, followed by Dickie Rock and later by Fran O'Toole. They had seven number one records on the Irish singles chart. Band members Fran O'Too ...

, one of the most popular cabaret bands in Ireland at the time. As the showband was returning to Dublin on 31 July at about 2.30 a.m. after a performance in

Banbridge Banbridge ( , ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road and is named after a bridge built over the River Bann in 1712. It is situated in the civil parish of Seapatrick and the historic barony of Iv ...

, they were flagged down at a bogus vehicle checkpoint on the main road at Buskill outside

Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Armagh, Armagh and County Down, Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry ...

by armed members of the Mid-Ulster Brigade wearing British Army uniforms. The band members were ordered out of their minibus and told to line up facing a ditch by the roadside. As one of the gunmen took down their names and addresses, two members of the brigade, Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville, planted a bomb under the driver's seat of the bus.

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 Butche ...

suggested that the plan was for the device to explode across the border, wiping out the band as well as making it appear as if the Miami Showband was smuggling bombs on behalf of the

.Dillon, Martin (1991). ''The Dirty War''. London: Arrow Books. pp.198–199 The bomb, however, went off just as the two men closed the door. They were blown to pieces, and the remaining UVF gunmen opened fire on the dazed band members, killing three (trumpeter Brian McCoy, lead singer Fran O'Toole, and guitarist Tony Geraghty) and wounding two (bassist Stephen Travers and saxophonist Des McAlea). The UVF's Brigade Staff issued a statement twelve hours after the killings in an attempt to justify the attack. It was published in the August 1975 edition of ''Combat'', the UVF's journal. Three men out of the ten-man UVF unit were later convicted of the murders;Thomas Crozier and James McDowell were serving soldiers of the 11th Battalion UDR, and John James Somerville (brother of Wesley) was a former member of the regiment.Taylor, Peter (1999). ''Loyalists''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. pp.146–148 An international panel headed by Professor Douglass Cassel was commissioned by the

to investigate collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and the security forces in a series of sectarian attacks and killings in the 1970s. This panel concluded that there was "credible evidence that the principal perpetrator

f the Miami Showband attack F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''. His ...

was a man who was not prosecuted – alleged RUC Special Branch agent Robin Jackson"Report of the Indepependent International Panel on Alleged Collusion in Sectarian Killings in Northern Ireland, October 2006. (The Cassel Report 2006, p.68). Retrieved 23 June 2011
The Pat Finucane Centre and John Weir have both implicated Jackson in at least 100 killings. Other attacks carried out by the UVF Mid-Ulster brigade included the killing of high-ranking

member John Francis Green in 1975, and the double shooting of the Reavey and O'Dowd families in 1976."Seeing Red", John Weir's Affidavit, Statement by John Weir, 03.01.99 Robin Jackson was arrested in October 1979 for possession of weapons, ammunition and hoods.The Barron Report 2003, p.261 On 20 January 1981, he was sentenced to seven years imprisonment after being convicted of possession of guns and ammunition. He was released a little over two years later in May 1983. This was his only conviction.

Tit-for-tat killings

During the 1980s the Mid-Ulster Brigade became somewhat less prominent as

became the centre of UVF activity. The brigade remained active and continued to launch attacks. One such attack occurred in

Coagh Coagh ( ; ) is a small village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, five miles (8 km) east of Cookstown. Part of the village also extends into County Londonderry. It had a population of 545 people in the 2001 Census. It owes its existenc ...

on 29 November 1989, when a unit of the Mid-Ulster Brigade entered the Battery Bar and opened fire. Two men were killed in the attack, Michael Devlin, a civilian and Liam Ryan, an important figure in the

Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade The East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), also known as the Tyrone/Monaghan Brigade was one of the most active republican paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland during " the Troubles". It is believed to have draw ...

. A series of tit-for-tat shootings began between the Mid-Ulster Brigade and the Provisional IRA, with Catholic civilian Martin Byrne and ex-IRA man Sam Marshall killed in two separate attacks in Lurgan in early 1990. Three more killings followed, including one Protestant shot in a case of mistaken identity, before 19-year-old Denis Carville was killed in Portadown on 6 October. In each case the IRA responded by killing members of the security forces or people working for them, as the killings on both sides spiralled. The

1991 Cappagh killings The 1991 Cappagh killings was a gun attack by the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) on 3 March 1991 in the village of Cappagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. A unit of the UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade drove to the staunchly republican vi ...

took place on 3 March, when a unit from the Mid-Ulster Brigade went to the village of

Cappagh, County Tyrone Cappagh (Irish: ''Ceapach'' (tilled or cultivated land)) is a small village and townland in the parish of Pomeroy in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Around north-west of Dungannon, it is between Pomeroy, Ballygawley, Galbally and Carrickm ...

, intent on killing an entire Provisional IRA unit based in the village. Taking up a position outside Boyle's Bar, the gunmen waited for a car to pull up containing republicans and opened fire on them as they exited the vehicle. The UVF men succeeded in killing IRA volunteers John Quinn, Dwayne O'Donnell and Malcolm Nugent before entering the bar and opening fire. One more man, Thomas Armstrong, was killed in the pub but he was not a member of the IRA, while their intended target, Brian Arthurs, survived by crouching behind the bar. A member of the Mid-Ulster Brigade staff would later claim that the Cappagh attack was "one of the best things we did militarily in thirty years" as it proved they could strike directly at the Provisional IRA in an area which was a republican stronghold. Because of the lack of a security force presence in an area where it was usually heavy, republicans and 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 ...

have alleged security force collusion in the killings, with Taylor suggesting the UDR.Taylor, Peter (1999). ''Loyalists''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing PLc. p.214 According to journalist and author Ed Moloney, the UVF campaign in Mid-Ulster in this period "indisputably shattered Republican morale", and put the leadership of the republican movement under intense pressure to "do something". However, according to Tony Geraghty's ''The Irish War'', the IRA managed to get revenge against the Mid-Ulster Brigade by killing five of their top members. According to Geraghty, the IRA "was never broken" by the actions of the UVF, and instead managed to successfully engage both the police and military as well as the paramilitaries.

Billy "King Rat" Wright

Although senior UVF figures consistently claimed he was not involved in the Cappagh attack, the media blamed the killings on the leader of the Portadown unit, Billy Wright, known as "King Rat". Wright became a figure widely covered in the press. However, it was certain that Wright's unit became the most active in Mid-Ulster with the killing of two teenage girls and an adult civilian at a mobile shop on a Catholic housing estate in

Craigavon Craigavon may refer to: * Craigavon, County Armagh, a planned town in Northern Ireland ** Craigavon Borough Council, 1972–2015 local government area centred on the planned town * Viscount Craigavon, title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom ** ...

on 28 March 1991, one of their more ferocious acts. At this stage the Mid-Ulster Brigade's continuation of the UVF policy of random sectarian attacks meant that it had diverged from the policies being undertaken by their Belfast counterparts, where an attempt was being made to lessen such attacks in favour of targeting known and active republicans. At some point during the early 1990s, Wright took over command of the brigade from Jackson and as a result, another spate of violent attacks by the Mid-Ulster Brigade erupted. Wright's UVF gang called themselves "The Brat Pack". Wright is believed to have started dealing drugs in 1991, mainly in ecstasy. It was around this time that ''

Sunday World The ''Sunday World'' is an Irish newspaper published by Independent News & Media. It is the second largest selling "popular" newspaper in the Republic of Ireland, and is also sold in Northern Ireland where a modified edition with more stories r ...

'' journalists

Martin O'Hagan Owen Martin O'Hagan (23 June 1950 – 28 September 2001) was an Irish investigative journalist from Lurgan, Northern Ireland. After leaving the Official Irish Republican Army (Official IRA) and serving time in prison, he began a 20-year journali ...

and Jim Campbell coined the term "Rat Pack" for the Brigade. Unable at first to identify Wright by name for legal reasons, they christened him "King Rat". Eventually the newspaper named Wright as a drug lord and sectarian murderer. Wright was apparently enraged by the nickname and made numerous threats against O'Hagan and Campbell. The ''Sunday Worlds offices were also firebombed. The BBC's Mark Davenport stated that he spoke to a drug dealer who told him that he paid Wright protection money. Loyalists in Portadown such as

Bobby Jameson Robert Parker Jameson (April 20, 1945 – May 12, 2015) was an American singer-songwriter who was briefly promoted as a major star in the early 1960s and later attracted a cult following with his 1965 album '' Songs of Protest and Anti-Protest'', ...

stated that the LVF was not a "loyalist organisation but a drugs organisation causing misery in Portadown". The Brigade was also prominent in the

Drumcree conflict The Drumcree conflict or Drumcree standoff is a dispute over yearly parades in the town of Portadown, Northern Ireland. The town is mainly Protestant and hosts numerous Protestant/ loyalist marches each summer, but has a significant Cathol ...

. According to the Northern Ireland

security forces Security forces are statutory organizations with internal security mandates. In the legal context of several nations, the term has variously denoted police and military units working in concert, or the role of military and paramilitary forces (su ...

, Wright directed up to 20 sectarian killings, although he was never convicted in connection with any of them. Wright, along with the Portadown unit of the Mid-Ulster Brigade, was officially stood down by the UVF's Brigade Staff on 2 August 1996. This came about after members of the group had killed Catholic taxi driver Michael McGoldrick outside Lurgan during the Drumcree disturbances, while the UVF were on ceasefire. Wright, who was expelled from the UVF, ordered to leave Northern Ireland, and threatened with execution, defied the Belfast leadership. He publicly denounced the Brigade staff as "communists", and went on to form the

(LVF), taking a significant number of Mid-Ulster Brigade members with him including his deputy Mark "Swinger" Fulton. Authors such as

argue that the Mid-Ulster Brigade had long established a reputation as a being a 'rogue' unit within the UVF that was responsible for some of the most savage sectarian attacks of the Troubles. Under Wright, the Mid-Ulster Brigade became notorious for attacks that involved shooting female Catholic civilians at close range. These included the shooting of Eileen Duffy (19) and Katrina Rennie (17) in Lurgan in 1991 as the teenage girls bought sweets in a mobile van. The girls were targeted because the killers believed they were Catholic. Both girls were shot at close range while another 14-year-old girl, Jamie Smith, was called a "

fenian The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood, secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicate ...

slut" by one of the gunmen before being dragged by the hair and thrown out of the shop. The ''Sunday World'' published an article on 18 September 2011 in which the paper stated that the attack was "planned by Billy Wright and fellow UVF murderer, Mark Swinger Fulton, in a flat in Portadown's loyalist Corcrain Estate." A seven-month-pregnant Catholic woman, Kathleen O'Hagan, was shot dead by the Brigade in front of her children in August 1994 in

Creggan, County Tyrone Creggan ( ga, An Creagán) is a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated in the historic barony of Omagh East and the civil parish of Termonmaguirk and covers an area of 4022 acres. Popular places of tourist interest include ...

. In July 1997, another teenage girl, Bernadette Martin, was shot in the head four times as she slept next to her Protestant boyfriend, Gordon Greene, in

Aghalee Aghalee () is a village, townland and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is three miles from the southeast corner of Lough Neagh on the main road between Lurgan and Antrim and about 13 kilometres west of Lisburn. The vill ...

. The killing was thought to have been ordered by Wright after having been expelled from the UVF. Wright was killed on 27 December 1997 inside 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 ...

, where he was imprisoned for having made threats, once more against a woman. Three members of the

Irish National Liberation Army The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA, ga, Arm Saoirse Náisiúnta na hÉireann) is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group formed on 10 December 1974, during the 30-year period of conflict known as " the Troubles". The group se ...

(INLA) shot Wright dead inside a prison van in the forecourt outside H Block 6 as it was transporting him and fellow LVF prisoner Norman Green to the visitors' complex. Five months after Wright's assassination, Robin Jackson died of lung cancer at his home in the village of

Donaghcloney Donaghcloney or Donacloney ()Richill and Banbridge instead swore loyalty to the Belfast leadership. A balaclava-wearing Mid-Ulster Brigade member appeared at a rally on Belfast's

on 2 September 1996 to read out a statement in which the remnants of the Mid-Ulster Brigade described the Wright-LVF issue as being "about internal discipline within the UVF" and denounced Wright for breaking the UVF's code. The feud re-ignited in 2000 and 2001 when the Mid-Ulster Brigade effectively eliminated the LVF. It was during this feud that brigadier Richard Jameson, leader of the Mid-Ulster Brigade, was shot dead by the LVF outside his home near Portadown on 10 January 2000. A month later, members of the Mid-Ulster Brigade beat and stabbed Protestant teenagers, Andrew Robb and David McIlwaine to death on a country road outside

Tandragee Tandragee () is a village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is built on a hillside overlooking the Cusher River, in the civil parish of Ballymore and the historic barony of Orior Lower. It had a population of 3,486 people in the 2011 Cen ...

, County Armagh after one of them had made disparaging comments about Jameson's killing earlier on at a drinking party. Neither of the boys was a member of the LVF or any other loyalist paramilitary organisation. The brigade was a centre of opposition to leadership plans to decommission weapons in 2007, leading to sixty members being stood down by the Belfast leadership. Subsequently, a group in the area calling itself the "Real UVF" issued a series of threats against

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gr ...

members in 2008 and against

dissident republicans Dissident republicans, renegade republicans, anti-Agreement republicans or anti-ceasefire republicans ( ga, poblachtach easaontach) are Irish republicans who do not support the current peace agreements in Northern Ireland. The agreements follow ...

in 2010. What connection, if any, exists between the Mid-Ulster Brigade and the Real UVF is not known. The Mid-Ulster UVF was blamed for a series of attacks and disturbances in Portadown during the

Orange Order 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 people, Ulster Sco ...

's "

marching season Parades are an important part of the culture of Northern Ireland. Although the majority of parades are held by Ulster Protestant, unionist or Ulster loyalist groups; Irish nationalist, republican and non-political groups also parade. The Parades ...

" in July 2011.

References

{{Loyalist Volunteer Force Ulster Volunteer Force 1972 establishments in Northern Ireland