Latest news with #UlsterDefenceAssociation
Irish Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Post
Face to face with the Ulster warlord
I FIRST met Andy Tyrie, the leader of an armed loyalist group, who died last week, in 1986. A BBC religious affairs programme, Sunday Sequence on Radio Ulster, had started hiring me as a freelance reporter and interviewing Tyrie was one of my first jobs. He was of interest to a religious affairs programme because the producers thought he might have thoughts on how much loyalist violence against Catholics was religiously motivated. I had to travel to a part of Belfast I did not normally feel safe in, where the population was almost entirely Protestant and unionist. Esther who managed reception, pressed the buzzer to let me through the security gate and directed me up the stairs to Short Kesh. This was the joke name for Tyrie's office, a pun on Long Kesh, the site of the Maze prison which housed loyalist and republican convicts. I found Tyrie affable and witty. He was a stout and tawny man with dark hair and a thick moustache. I assumed that the loyalist sectarian marauders he governed had at least the good sense not to shoot a journalist, one who might air their case, if they had one. We spent a couple of hours talking and then I recorded the interview. We covered a lot of ground. His basic theory was that sectarian tension in Northern Ireland was about territory. Most working class Protestants lived in housing developments that were almost exclusively Protestant but the Catholic population was increasing and needed housing too. The Ulster Defence Association which he led was ostensibly about defending Northern Ireland, or Ulster as they called it, against the IRA. In reality it was more concerned to scare away Catholics who had moved into houses in what loyalists regarded as Protestant areas. We talked also about new ideas being developed at that time about loyalist culture. Tyrie said that loyalists had been surprised to see that republicans in the prisons were able to communicate using the Irish language. They realised that a coherent Irish culture reinforced the argument for Irish unity and the preservation of a singular Irish identity. To match that, loyalists had to explore their own identity. They were now taking an interest in Ulster Scots, a rural dialect that their forebears had brought from Scotland. Before I left Tyrie, one of his close colleagues came into the room. He remarked that I bore a strong resemblance to Jim Campbell, a former news editor of mine who had been shot and wounded by men of the UDA that Tyrie led, perhaps with Tyrie's approval. The new arrival said, 'Sometimes we drive past Campbell's house and wave to him just to scare the shite out of him.' This was closer to the raw humour of vicious people than the amicable chat I had been having with Tyrie. This man took from his pocket a large brass folding knife, opened it and held the blade up to my face. 'If we just cut off a bit of the beard here and another bit here, you'd look just like Jim Campbell,' he said. I edited the interview and it was broadcast at length. On the day after broadcast the production assistant called me and asked for Tyrie's address. The BBC, which paid interviewees back then, sent him a cheque for £83. A few weeks later, Terry Sharkie, my producer and I went to Moneymore to report on an Orange Ceili, one of those presentations of loyalist culture that Tyrie had spoken of. This was held in the ballroom of a hotel. Tyrie was there. I went over to talk to him and realised that the men around him were not happy with my presumption of familiarity. I said something light-hearted to Tyrie to evoke a similarly friendly response that would reassure these goons that I was no threat. Tyrie said nothing so I walked away. There was further embarrassment that night when I was called out to draw the raffle ticket for a clock made by a loyalist prisoner. This clock was built onto a brass map of Northern Ireland on a wooden plaque. I drew the ticket and to enormous embarrassment my producer Terry Sharkie had the winning ticket. There was stamping of feet and shouts of 'Fenian Fix! The Taigs have got the clock'. But Tyrie's people assured us we had won the clock fair and square and even invited us to stay on. I danced with one of the loyalist women in a cumbersome country waltz. 'We're not sectarian here,' she said. That clock sat on a filing cabinet in the BBC's religious affairs office for about three years and was then blown onto the floor by an IRA bomb in the street below us. In the year before my interview with Tyrie his organisation had shot and killed one Catholic. He was later usurped by more murderous younger members who raised that tally considerably after trying also, and failing, to kill Tyrie himself. Perhaps I had seen a hint of that emerging tension myself, between the cheery bloke that he was when we were alone together and the sterner figure he became when hard men were around. See More: Andy Tyrie, IRA, Ulster
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former UDA leader Andy Tyrie dies
Andy Tyrie, a former leader of loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), has died. Mr Tyrie, who was in his 80s and died on Friday, began his leadership of the paramilitary group in the early 1970s, during some of the bloodiest years of the Troubles. He continued until the late 1980s when he avoided death in a car bomb attack and resigned. He later backed the Ulster Democratic Party's (UDP's) support of the Good Friday Agreement, which brought an end to the 30-year conflict in 1998. A prominent figure within loyalism, the Loyalist Conflict Museum in east Belfast, which recounts the history of the UDA, was originally called the Andy Tyrie Interpretive Centre. Former chair of the Parades Commission and Community Relations Council, Peter Osbourne, paid tribute on X, writing: "In the years that I knew him, Andy Tyrie was an advocate for tolerance, reconciliation, and on those issues that particularly affect working-class communities." Mr Tyrie emerged as UDA leader after former leader Tommy Herron was shot dead in 1973. The UDA, which formed in 1971, had tens of thousands of members at its peak and killed hundreds of people during the Troubles, often claiming responsibility under the cover name the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF). It remained a legal organisation until it was banned in August 1992. During his leadership, Mr Tyrie was involved in Ulster Workers' Council strike in 1974, a 14-day campaign of civil disobedience which brought down Northern Ireland's first power-sharing executive. In 1999, he told The Observer that the UDA were not opposed to power sharing but "the Council of Ireland, which was being seen as a mechanism to roll us into a United Ireland". State papers released in 2005 showed that 30 years previously Mr Tyrie had organised talks between the UDA and the IRA, without the knowledge of many of his supporters. Merlyn Rees, the then Northern Ireland secretary, told Prime Minister Harold Wilson that the meetings included a "certain amount of camaraderie". In that interview with The Observer in 1999, Mr Tyrie said many of the things they had argued for had come to fruition through the Good Friday Agreement. "We called for power sharing, sensible north-south co-operation under the control of a Belfast assembly and a council of the British Isles. All of this has happened and that is why I'm happy about the new government at Stormont."
Daily Record
17-05-2025
- Daily Record
Race hate murder that shocked Scotland retold 50 years on
Liam Turbett's new book, Glasgow 1975, aims to ensure the story of Hector Smith is not forgotten. The story of a forgotten racist murder that shocked Scotland 50 years ago has been retold in a new book on the sickening crime. Hector Smith was shot dead at home in front of his terrified family in 1975 by convicted bank robber and aspiring Loyalist terrorist Brian Hosie. While the murder made front page news, it was quickly forgotten amid a backdrop of widespread political upheaval in the UK and abroad. Author and activist Liam Turbett has now re-examined the case and links it to a growing campaign against the far-right in the mid-1970s. His book, Glasgow 1975, details the killing of Hector and places it in the context of a city struggling to reinvent itself as numerous residents moved out and thousands of homes were demolished. Turbett told the Record: 'I couldn't believe it hadn't been written about before and was so little known. The stories we tell about the past are important for how we see ourselves, yet it's easy for things to slip away. 'The book is an attempt to ensure that this important and shocking story from Glasgow's recent past is not forgotten.' Hector, a Jamaican-born dad of three, was living in the Woodlands district when he was gunned down as part of a botched plot to extort money from local women suspected of being involved in prostitution. Hosie, a fantasist obsessed with paramilitary violence, concocted the cack-handed scheme while out drinking with two accomplices as a way of raising money for Loyalist extremists. Their brainless actions would see the trio arrive at Hector's flat near Charing Cross to demand money from his partner, who the gang believed was a sex worker. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Hosie, then aged 24, had recently returned to Glasgow after spending time in Belfast trying to become a fully fledged member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). He also openly bragged about being a card-carrying member of the racist National Front (NF). After Hector refused to hand over the £10 demanded by the gang, Hosie shot him dead with a stolen revolver. The racist thug was quickly apprehended along with his accomplices by police and would later be jailed for life. The full story of the investigation and trial is told in riveting detail by Turbett. Asked why he thought Hector's tragic death was forgotten, the author said: 'The whole thing was seen as being quite seedy and there was no official political response to it. 'Scotland also didn't have a Caribbean community in the same way as some English cities at the time, and anti-racist movements were in their infancy, so there was none of the campaigning or protests around the case that we might expect to see now. 'The alleged involvement of the UDA terrified people too, and there were real fears of importing the conflict in Northern Ireland over to Scotland.' Asked what lessons could be learned from the events of 1975 in Glasgow, Turbett added: 'The Scotland of today is a very different place from 1975. 'But the need to stand up for minorities in society and not allow hate speech to go unchecked – particularly whenever there are attempts to blame different minority groups for deep-seated social or economic problems – remains as important as ever.'
Daily Record
12-05-2025
- Daily Record
Forgotten racist murder in Glasgow shows need 'to stand up for minorities in society'
EXCLUSIVE: A new book tells the terrifying story of how a violent racist shot dead Jamaican-born Hector Smith at his home in central Glasgow. The story of a forgotten racist murder that shocked Scotland 50 years ago has been retold in a new book examining the circumstances of the sickening crime. Hector Smith was shot dead at home in front of his terrified family in February 1975 by convicted bank robber and aspiring Loyalist terrorist Brian Hosie. The tragic story unfolded in Glasgow at a time the city was preparing to celebrate its 800th anniversary. While the brutal murder made frontpage news, it was quickly forgotten amid a backdrop of widespread political upheaval in the UK and abroad. Author and activist Liam Turbett has now reexamined the case and links it to a growing campaign against the far-right in the mid-1970s. His new book, Glasgow 1975, details the senseless killing of Hector and places it in the context of a city struggling to reinvent itself as numerous residents moved out and thousands of homes were demolished. Turbett told the Record: "I couldn't believe it hadn't been written about before and was so little known. "The stories we tell about the past are important for how we see ourselves, yet it's easy for things to slip away. The book is an attempt to ensure that this important and shocking story from Glasgow's recent past is not forgotten." Hector, a Jamaican-born dad-of-three, was living in the Woodlands district when he was gunned down as part of a botched plot to extort money from local women suspected of being involved in prostitution. Hosie, a fantasist obsessed with paramilitary violence, concocted the cack-handed scheme while out drinking with two accomplices as a way of raising money for Loyalist extremists. Their brainless actions would see the trio arrive at Hector's flat near Charing Cross to demand money from his partner, who the gang believed was a sex worker. Hosie, then aged 24, had recently returned to Glasgow after spending time in Belfast trying to become a fully fledged member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). He also openly bragged about being a card-carrying member of the racist National Front (NF). After Hector refused to hand over the £10 demanded by the gang, Hosie shot him dead with a stolen revolver. The racist thug was quickly apprehended along with his accomplices by police and would later be jailed for life. The full story of the investigation and trial is told in revetting detail by Turbett. Asked why he thought Hector's tragic death was forgotten, the author said: "The whole thing was seen as being quite seedy and there was no official political response to it. "Scotland also didn't have a Caribbean community in the same way as some English cities at the time, and anti-racist movements were in their infancy, so there was none of the campaigning or protests around the case that we might expect to see now. "The alleged involvement of the UDA terrified people too, and there were real fears of importing the conflict in Northern Ireland over to Scotland." Asked what lessons could be learned from the events of 1975 in Glasgow, Turbett added: "The Scotland of today is a very different place from 1975. "But the need to stand up for minorities in society and not allow hate speech to go unchecked - particularly whenever there are attempts to blame different minority groups for deep-seated social or economic problems - remains as important as ever."
BBC News
24-04-2025
- BBC News
The Troubles: RUC 'failed' to pursue suspects in murder
A police investigation into the murder of a Catholic taxi driver in Belfast "failed to effectively pursue relevant suspects", a report by Police Ombudsman Marie Anderson has O'Hara, 41, was shot dead by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) on Dunluce Avenue in Anderson reviewed the original Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) investigation following a complaint from his uncovered several issues, including forensic failings, which resulted in an "inadequate" O'Hara, a father-of-five, had no connection with any political party or paramilitary group. A number of shots were fired into Mr O'Hara's car from an alleyway as he arrived to pick up a is nothing to suggest the RUC had information which would have enabled them to take action to prevent his Anderson said within two weeks of the shooting, intelligence was received which indicated the involvement of eight only three of them were arrested and there is no evidence the alibis they provided were checked. One of the suspected gunmen was not picked up, despite being connected to the attack by witness evidence and four separate pieces of intelligence."Although the initial police response was comprehensive and of a good standard, the subsequent murder enquiry was not capable of bringing those responsible to justice," Mrs Anderson said.A car which closely matched the description of the getaway vehicle was not seized for was also a forensic failing in relation to a balaclava discovered a mile from the murder hairs were found on it, but they were compared to those taken from suspects in another guns used in the attack, which were recovered in 1992 and 1995, can no longer be disposal orders exist for the Anderson said they should have been kept by the police "for evidential purposes in respect of unsolved murders, including Mr O'Hara's".
