UK: NORTHERN IRELAND: BILLY WRIGHT IS SHOT DEAD IN MAZE PRISON

(27 Dec 1997) English/Nat

The Northern Ireland peace process hung in the balance on Saturday after a leading figure from the pro-British loyalist movement was shot dead inside the Maze prison.

Loyalist paramilitaries warned of reprisals for the death of Billy Wright, saying it would widen its theatre of operations in the coming weeks and months.

Wright, a senior member of the outlawed Loyalist Volunteer Force, was shot five times by members of the republican splinter group the Irish National Liberation Army.

Police closed roads in religiously divided west Belfast and kept watch elsewhere for possible retaliatory strikes against Catholics, while politicians appealed for calm.

The Maze prison in Lisburn, 12 miles (19 kms) southwest of Belfast, is Europe's biggest and most closely guarded terrorist prison.

It houses hundreds of extremist loyalists (mainly Protestant) and republican (mainly Catholic) inmates.

The two sides are normally carefully segregated to prevent any violence but a serious lapse in security meant republican gunmen were able to shoot and kill Billy Wright.

Prison officers said the attackers got onto a roof of the jail and fired at him while he was being escorted to the visitor's centre.

The men were thought to be from the Irish National Liberation Army, a splinter group of the Irish Republican Army, which wants to see Ulster reunited with the Irish Republic.

The INLA is vehemently opposed to the IRA's July 20 truce.

Official reports say the men fired from the roof hitting Wright in the back.

But a friend of Wright's - who is an L-V-F prisoner currently on parole - said the men dropped down into the yard before opening fire.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I know our prisoner were in for a visit and this boy jumped down off the roof of A-Wing and pulled the van door open and shot him four times."
SUPER CAPTION: Alec Kerr, L.V.F. prisoner and friend of Billy Wright

Wright, one of the province's most feared paramilitaries, founded the Loyalist Volunteer Force (L-V-F) in 1995.

The group wants the province to remain under British rule and is opposed to a continuing 1994 cease-fire by Northern Ireland's two main pro-British paramilitary groups.

Both groups had threatened to kill him for disobedience.

The L-V-F has been has been blamed for killing up to 20 Catholics, including women and elderly people.

Wright was serving an eight year sentence for threatening to kill witnesses testifying against him in a case unconnected with the conflict.

He had been the subject of six previous assassination attempts by republican terrorist groups and always expected to die a violent death.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I have never been afraid to die and no one knows that better than the I-R-A but there are many forms of death and many ways to die and these past few years have been a living hell to me, and let me say not because I am opposed to peace for I am not, nor am I opposed to conflict resolution, but because I am living through the death of our nation, the destruction of our way of life. I'm sick of ambiguity I'm sick of the government's lies and deceit. I will not become part of a process that's designed to ease our people into a United Ireland.
SUPER CAPTION: Billy Wright

After the shooting, three men gave themselves up without a struggle and two guns were recovered.

The killing will put the loyalist cease-fire under increased strain.


On Saturday evening, the L-V-F warned of reprisals for the death of its leader.

Security forces were put on increased alert as the authorities feared retaliatory killings.










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