Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

LOYALIST VOLUNTEER FORCE • 403McGoldrick, a 31-year-old Catholic man shot outside Lurgan on 8July 1996. At that time the group was the Mid-Ulster Brigade of theUVF, whose leadership censured them for the murder, which violatedthe 1994 cease-fire. This event caused the disaffected Mid-UlsterBrigade to break off from the UVF. It was responsible for four killingsin 1997 and nine killings in 1998, although in 1998 it was alsoallowed by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) to claim credit forits own killings in the name of the LVF, since the UFF was supposedto be observing a cease-fire at that time.On 12 July 1998 the LVF set fire to 10 Catholic churches tosabotage ongoing peace negotiations between the Irish RepublicanArmy (IRA) and mainline Ulster Protestant groups. The LVF alsowas the first Protestant paramilitary group to murder a Catholicman—Gerry Devlin, who was shot in a parking lot in Glengormley—sincethe renewal in July 1997 of the IRA’s previous ceasefire.The murder also seemed to be prompted by the pending receptionof Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams at No. 10 Downing Streetby British Prime Minister Tony Blair, planned for 11 December1997. On 11 January 1998 the LVF also murdered Terry Enwright,the nephew by marriage of Gerry Adams, to dampen the resumptionof peace talks the following day. The LVF claimed the killingwas in reprisal for the murder of its leader, Billy Wright, who wasshot dead by members of the Irish National Liberation Army(INLA) inside the Maze Prison on 27 December 1997. The LVFwas responsible for eight more killings in January 1998. Despiteits fierce opposition to the cease-fires and to the peace process, theLVF was the first paramilitary group to hand over its weapons tothe International Commission on Decommissioning following theGood Friday Agreement of 10 April 1998.On 28 September 2001 the LVF assassinated Martin O’Haga,a journalist who had been exposing the involvement of the LVF indistributing heroin. Secretary of State for Northern Ireland John Reiddeclared that both the LVF and Ulster Defence Association (UDA)were in violation of their declared cease-fires, the UDA having instigatedantipolice riots in north Belfast involving firearms and Molotovcocktails. Mark Fulton, who had become the LVF leader afterBilly Wright, was found dead in his prison cell in Maghaberry Prisonon 10 June 2002, an apparent suicide. Under pressure from the UVF,the LVF agreed to disband on 20 October 2005. However, as late as