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Christopher McWilliams
Christopher McWilliams (15 December 1963 – 28 June 2008) was an Irish Republican paramilitary who was a member of both the Irish People's Liberation Organisation (IPLO) and the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. He was convicted of the murder of Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) leader Billy Wright, who was shot by an INLA unit led by McWilliams inside the Maze Prison. Background McWilliams was born on 15 December 1963 and grew up in staunchly republican west Belfast. His 16-year-old brother Paul, a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army youth section ( Na Fianna), was shot dead by British Army soldiers in 1977 as he threw petrol bombs at their observation post during rioting in Ballymurphy. The following week McWilliams placed a death notice in the ''Irish News'' regarding his brother's death: "He was shot in the back by a coward and died a hero". Paramilitary activities In 1984, McWilliams was jailed for fourteen years for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Wright (loyalist)
William Stephen Wright (7 July 1960 – 27 December 1997), known as King Rat, was a Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary leader who founded the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) during The Troubles. Wright had joined the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in his home town of Portadown around 1975. After spending several years in prison, he became a Reformed fundamentalism, Protestant fundamentalist preacher. Wright resumed his UVF activities around 1986 and, in the early 1990s, replaced Robin Jackson as commander of that organisation's Mid-Ulster Brigade. According to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), Wright was involved in the sectarianism, sectarian killings of up to 20 Irish Catholics, Catholics but was never convicted for any. In 1994, the UVF and other paramilitary groups called a ceasefire. Wright became a staunch opponent of the Northern Ireland peace process, seeing it as a sell-out to Irish nationalists and Irish republicanism, republicans. Wright drew media attention during t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conflict Archive On The Internet
CAIN (Conflict Archive on the Internet) is a database containing information about conflict and politics in Northern Ireland from 1968 to the present. The project began in 1996, with the website launching in 1997. The project is based within Ulster University at its Magee campus. The archive chronicles important events during the Troubles, stretching from 1968 until the present day. The name is an allusion to the Biblical Cain, who murdered his brother Abel. CAIN is affiliated with the Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive (ARK), which consists of a number of websites devoted to providing informational material related to Northern Ireland's political process and history. The institutions of higher learning that created CAIN, in addition to Ulster University, were the Queen's University, which worked in concert with the Linen Hall Library. Other important contributors to this project's inception and development were the Center for the Study of Conflict, Educational S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
POA (trade Union)
The POA: The Professional Trades Union for Prison, Correctional and Secure Psychiatric Workers, also known as the Prison Officers' Association (POA), is a trade union in the United Kingdom. It currently has a membership over 30,000. Background The roots of the POA can be traced back to the launch in 1910 of the underground magazine, ''Prison Officers' Magazine'', under the editorship of Fred Ludlow, the magazine was otherwise known as the 'Red-Un' after the colour of its cover. After the editorship was taken over by E. R. Ramsey (Hubert Witchard) in 1915 and a more radical tone was adopted, this led in 1916 to the formation of the ''Prison Officers' Federation'', which affiliated to the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party in the same year. By July 1915, around 500 out of a total of 4000 staff had joined the union, but many became disillusioned and left after the POF failed to win a petition for a war time bonus for prison officers. The POF amalgamated in 1918 with its rival union th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prison Officer
A prison officer (PO) or corrections officer (CO), also known as a correctional law enforcement officer or less formally as a prison guard, is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation of prisoners. Terms for the role Historically, terms such as " jailer" (also spelled " gaoler"), "guard" and "warder" have all been used. The term "prison officer" is used for the role in the UK and Ireland. It is the official English title in Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Poland. The term "corrections officer" or "correction officer" is used in the U.S. and New Zealand. The term "correctional police officer" or "CPO" is used in New Jersey. Due to the law enforcement status and authority of New Jersey's officers, New Jersey's officers employed by the Department of Corrections are classified as "police officers". Brazil has a similar system to New Jersey, but the officers are known as "state penal police agent" or "federal penal pol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust Limited. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of ''The Guardian'' in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of ''The Guardian'' free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for ''The Guardian'' the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in its journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. The editor-in-chief Katharine Viner succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly''. In December 2024, Tortoise Media acquired the paper from the Scott Trust Limited, with the transition taking place on 22 April 2025. History Origins The first issue was published on 4 December 1791 by W.S. Bourne, making ''The Observer'' the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. Believing that the paper would be a means of wealth, Bourne instead soon found himself facing debts of nearly £1,600. Though early editions purported editorial independence, Bourne attempted to cut his losses and sell the title to the government. When this failed, Bourne's brother (a wealthy businessman) made an offer to the government, which also refused to buy the paper but agreed to subsidise it in return for influence over its editori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hugh Torney (Irish Republican)
Hugh Torney (c.1954 – 3 September 1996) was an Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) paramilitary leader best known for his activities on behalf of the INLA and Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) in a feud with the Irish People's Liberation Organisation (IPLO), a grouping composed of disgruntled former INLA members, in the mid-1980s; and later an internal feud following his expulsion from the organisation and eventual death. Early years In his youth, Torney had been a member of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) and as early as 1970 he was injured on duty along with fellow OIRA member Jackie Goodman when both were wounded during an attack on the Henry Taggart British Army base in Ballymurphy, Belfast.Jack Holland & Henry McDonald, ''INLA: Deadly Divisions'', Torc, 1994, p. 189 He switched allegiance to the INLA around the formation of that group in 1974 as the Official IRA began to incorporate a more political-based agenda rather than a military campaign in the ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HM Prison Maghaberry
HM Prison Maghaberry is a high security prison near Lisburn, Northern Ireland, which opened in 1986. It was built on the site of RAF Maghaberry, a World War II airfield used as a flying station by the Royal Air Force and a transit airfield for the United States Army Air Forces. At the end of the war, the airfield was run down and was bought back from the Air Ministry in 1957 by Edward Thomas Boyes who then farmed it with his sons until the Northern Ireland Office began work on the prison in 1976. Mourne House, which held female prisoners, young offenders, and Detention of suspects, remands, was the first part to be opened, in March 1986. This followed the closure of the women's prison at HMP Armagh. The male part of the prison became fully operational on 2 November 1987. Following the closure of HMP Belfast on 31 March 1996, Maghaberry became the adult committal prison in Northern Ireland. Two new accommodation blocks were opened in 1999. In 2003, the Steele report recommende ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC'', pp. 5, 17, 27, 93, 134, 271; Pen & Sword Books; following the partition of Ireland. At its peak the force had around 8,500 officers, with a further 4,500 who were members of the RUC Reserve. The RUC policed Northern Ireland from the aftermath of the Irish War of Independence until after the turn of the 21st century and played a major role in the Troubles between the 1960s and the 1990s. Due to the threat from the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), who saw the RUC as enforcing British rule, the force was heavily armed and militarised. Officers routinely carried submachine guns and assault rifles, travelled in armoured vehicles, and were based in heavily fortified police stations.Weitzer, Ronald. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lenadoon
Andersonstown, known colloquially as Andytown, is a suburb of west Belfast, Northern Ireland, at the foot of the Black Mountain and Divis Mountain. It contains a mixture of public and private housing and is largely a working-class area with a strong Irish nationalist and Irish Catholic tradition. The area stretches between the Shaws Road, the Glen Road and the Andersonstown Road. History The area is in County Antrim. Historically, it was part of the Barony of Belfast Upper, the parish of Shankill and the townland of Ballydownfine (). The area was also known as Whitesidetown after the family that owned the land, but they were dispossessed for the support they gave to the Society of United Irishmen, resulting in a change of name. In 1832, it was described as a village consisting of eleven families, some of whom were named Anderson. The Andersons are likely to have been of Scottish Lowland descent. Most of what is now Andersonstown was a farm named 'Maryburne', owned by a fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
