William James Fulton (born 25 November 1968
/ref>), known as Jim Fulton, is a Northern Irish

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 Cro ...

. He was a volunteer in the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), the paramilitary organisation founded in 1996 by Billy Wright and later commanded by his brother Mark "Swinger" Fulton until the latter's death in 2002. He was convicted in 2006 of LVF-related crimes; these included having ordered the murder of a local Portadown woman and seven attempted murders. Fulton was sentenced to life in prison. His trial was the longest in the legal history of Northern Ireland.

Family

Fulton was born in Portadown,

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

in 1968. He is a son of Jim "Swinger" Fulton, a former British soldier, who worked as a window cleaner."Blood brothers' love consummated in death". ''Irish Tribune'. Susan McKay. 16 June 2002 His mother, Sylvia Prentice, came from a family of wealthy local car dealers. Fulton is married to Kelly, with whom he has several children.

Loyalist Volunteer Force

Along with his older brother Mark, also known as "Swinger", and cousin Gary, Jim Fulton was a close ally of Billy Wright in the Ulster Volunteer Force's Mid-Ulster Brigade. Some time in the early 1990s, Wright succeeded

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 violen ...

as commander of the brigade. In 1992 Fulton was found guilty of possession of items for terrorist purposes and served nearly three years in prison. This was one of ten separate convictions he had picked by 2000. The Fultons were founder members of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), which Wright had formed in 1996 after he and his Portadown unit were stood down by the UVF Brigade Staff in

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 Kingdo ...

on 2 August 1996.Taylor, Peter (1999). ''Loyalists''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. p.241 This came about after the unauthorised killing of Catholic taxi driver

Michael McGoldrick Michael McGoldrick (born 26 November 1971, in Manchester, England) is a folk musician who plays Irish flute, uilleann pipes, low whistle and bodhran. He also plays other instruments such as acoustic guitar, cittern, and mandolin. Bands McGo ...

by gunmen from the Portadown unit of the Mid-Ulster Brigade during the Drumcree standoff when the UVF were on ceasefire. The killing has been reported as the first to be carried out by the LVF, although the unit remained within the UVF when it was carried out and were stood down by the

-based Brigade Staff as a result of the attack."UVF disbands unit linked to taxi murder"
''The Independent'', 3 August 1996; retrieved 18 October 2009 Wright took most of the members of his expelled unit with him. Following the assassination of Billy Wright 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 Sept ...

in December 1997, Fulton's brother Mark took over as commander of the LVF. In 2000 Fulton was arrested in

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along with his wife Tanya and Odysseus and Mahatma Landry, two of the sons of LVF member Muriel Gibson, on charges of possession of firearms and explosives, as well as drugs charges. When all charges not related to drugs were dropped, campaigners seeking a full investigation into the murder of

Rosemary Nelson Rosemary Nelson (''née'' Magee; 4 September 1958 – 15 March 1999) was an Irish solicitor who was killed with a bomb planted in her car by an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in 1999. A bomb exploded under Nelson's car at her home in Lurgan ...

asked the

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to investigate the circumstances surrounding the case.Congress asked to investigate Fulton arrest
''

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'' Fulton had left for the

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in 1999 soon after Nelson's killing, fuelling speculation that he had been involved.Alleged ex-LVF terror leader released on bail
''

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Trial

Ultimately he was deported from the USA rather than facing the charges. Returning to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, he settled in

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in south-west England. In the town he became associated with a gang of criminals and earned money working as a driver for them. Unbeknownst to Fulton, his associates were actually undercover police officers and as he opened up to them about his leading role in paramilitarism they secretly taped his confessions. After this surveillance operation, Fulton was arrested in 2002 and charged with 64 offences relating to terrorist activity. Following his arrest he was detained in

HMP Maghaberry HMP Maghaberry was built on the site of RAF Maghaberry, a World War II airfield near Lisburn, Northern Ireland, which was used as a flying station by the Royal Air Force and also as a transit airfield for the United States Army Air Forces. At t ...

on a wing with just two other prisoners. One of these, his brother Mark, died there in June 2002. In a controversial move, Jim Fulton was freed on bail soon after the death of his brother. Fulton was convicted in 2006 for several LVF-related crimes and sentenced to life in prison. Under British law, he will have to serve at least 28 years. He was convicted of ordering the 1999 murder of Elizabeth O'Neill, a 59-year-old Protestant grandmother whose home in Portadown's Corcrain estate was attacked with a pipe bomb because she was married to a Catholic.Leading LVF man jailed for murder

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She had died after picking up a bomb thrown through her window as she watched television. He was also found guilty of seven attempted murders - four of them arising from a home-made

grenade A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade genera ...

attack on riot police during the Drumcree protests in 1998 - two drug offences and possession of a handgun used to murder

in 1996. In all Fulton was found guilty of 48 separate charges in a trial that proved to be the longest in the legal history of Northern Ireland. He was also acquitted of a further 14 charges.LVF KILLER FULTON SENTENCED TO LIFE; Loyalist caught after undercover cops hear he helped in murder.
/ref> His associate was leading loyalist Muriel Gibson, who was indicted along with him. Much of the evidence against Fulton consisted of claims he had made to undercover police officers while living in England. At his trial he claimed that he had lied in order to impress the officers, believing they were members of an important criminal "

firm A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

". Following his sentencing by Mr Justice Hart, one of Fulton's supporters shouted angry abuse at the judge as he left the court: "Farce, scam, you're a disgrace to law and order".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fulton, William James 1968 births Living people Loyalist Volunteer Force members Ulster Volunteer Force members Ulster loyalists imprisoned on charges of terrorism Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Northern Ireland Irish people convicted of attempted murder People from Portadown