Billy Wright had been openly threatening Northern Ireland’s peace process The murder of loyalist leader Billy Wright was the result of serious failings by the prison service, not state collusion, an inquiry has found.
Wright, the head of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), was shot dead inside the Maze prison by republican prisoners in December 1997.
His family believe he was a victim of collusion between prison authorities, the security services and police.
But the report said his murder happened because of negligence, not intention.
PDF download The Billy Wright Inquiry – full report[5 Mb]
Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson told Westminster on Tuesday that there was no collusion.
He said the report made this “clear and unequivocal”.
He said the report also said there was evidence of negligence on the part of the NI Prison Service.
“I am sincerely sorry that failings in the system facilitated his murder,” Mr Paterson said.
The investigation cost almost £30m and took five years to complete.
NI Secretary Owen Paterson announced the report’s findings in Parliament Billy Wright was one of the most notorious loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland.
The man nicknamed ‘King Rat’ – a term coined by journalists on the Sunday World newspaper – waged a bloody and bigoted campaign against the Catholic population in the Portadown and Lurgan area between the mid 1980s and his death in 1997.
He was a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and was arrested on several occasions but never charged. Eventually he became the UVF’s “Mid-Ulster commander” and is thought to have ordered or participated in around 20 killings, most of which were blatantly sectarian.
The IRA and the INLA tried to kill Wright at least five times but he survived and built his reputation among Portadown loyalists.
He was jailed in 1997 for threatening to kill a woman. He was initially sent to Maghaberry prison but later transferred to the Maze where he was shot dead on 27 December 1997 as he was let out to a van for a visit with his girlfriend.
The £30m inquiry was prompted by the findings of retired Canadian judge Peter Cory in 2004. It was established in May 2007 under the chairmanship of Lord Ranald MacLean.
The inquiry, which lasted almost five years, heard that there was intelligence information indicating the INLA planned to kill Wright if he was transferred from Maghaberry prison to the Maze.
Nevertheless he was moved in April 1997 and eight months later, he was shot dead by INLA men, Christopher McWilliams, John Kennaway and another man.
Flaws in how the Maze prison was run led to the murder, the inquiry said The gunmen got through a hole cut in a fence, ran across the roof of the block and shot Wright as he sat in a van which was due to take him to a visiting area.
In the years following Wright’s murder, his father David has campaigned for an investigation into allegations that the state was involved.
The inquiry heard evidence that there was intelligence information indicating Wright was under threat from the INLA.
In April 1997, an MI5 agent inside the INLA told his handler what he knew about a potential attack on Wright.
That information was shared with RUC Special Branch, though they seem not to have shared it with other parts of the police.
Sir John Wheeler was adamant at the inquiry that he was not shown this piece of intelligence.
There is also some doubt about whether the RUC passed on the intelligence to the prison service.
Counsel for the Wright family was adamant they did not.
The inquiry had heard evidence outlining flaws in the way the Maze prison was being run at the time.
Prisoners had more freedom than would have been expected in a high security prison, with searches infrequent to non-existent.
Security cameras were not working and the guards in observation towers were frequently stood down.
At the time of Wright’s murder, INLA and LVF prisoners were housed in the same block of the prison despite being bitter enemies.
The inquiry also heard that outside observers including the Red Cross and the Official Prison Visitor advised of the dangers of co-locating the LVF and INLA.
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