William James Fulton (born 25 November 1968
/ref>), known as Jim Fulton, is a Northern Irish

loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

. He was a volunteer in the

Loyalist Volunteer Force The Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) was an Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed by Billy Wright (loyalist), Billy Wright in 1996 when he and his unit split from the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) a ...

(LVF), the paramilitary organisation founded in 1996 by Billy Wright and later commanded by his brother Mark "Swinger" Fulton until the latter's death in 2002. He was convicted in 2006 of LVF-related crimes; these included having ordered the murder of a local

Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...

woman and seven attempted murders. Fulton was sentenced to life in prison. His trial was the longest in the legal history of Northern Ireland.

Family

Fulton was born in Portadown,

County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

in 1968. He is a son of Jim "Swinger" Fulton, a former British soldier, who worked as a window cleaner."Blood brothers' love consummated in death". ''Irish Tribune''. Susan McKay. 16 June 2002 His mother, Sylvia Prentice, came from a family of wealthy local car dealers. Fulton is married to Kelly, with whom he has several children.

Loyalist Volunteer Force

Along with his older brother Mark, also known as "Swinger", and cousin Gary, Jim Fulton was a close ally of Billy Wright in the

Ulster Volunteer Force The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist paramilitary group based in Northern Ireland. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former Royal Ulster Rifles soldier from North ...

's Mid-Ulster Brigade. Some time in the early 1990s, Wright succeeded Robin Jackson as commander of the brigade. In 1992 Fulton was found guilty of possession of items for terrorist purposes and served nearly three years in prison. This was one of ten convictions he had picked up by 2000. The Fultons were founder members of the

(LVF), which Wright had formed in 1996 after he and his Portadown unit were stood down by the UVF Brigade Staff in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

on 2 August 1996.Taylor, Peter (1999). ''Loyalists''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. p.241 This came about after the unauthorised killing of Catholic taxi driver Michael McGoldrick by gunmen from the Portadown unit of the Mid-Ulster Brigade during the Drumcree standoff when the UVF were on ceasefire. The killing has been reported as the first to be carried out by the LVF, although the unit remained within the UVF when it was carried out and were stood down by the

-based Brigade Staff as a result of the attack."UVF disbands unit linked to taxi murder"
''The Independent'', 3 August 1996; retrieved 18 October 2009 Wright took most of the members of his expelled unit with him. Following the assassination of Billy Wright inside the

Maze Prison HM Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as the Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to September 2000. On 15 ...

in December 1997, Fulton's brother Mark took over as commander of the LVF. In 2000 Fulton was arrested in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

along with his wife Tanya and Odysseus and Mahatma Landry, two of the sons of LVF member Muriel Gibson, on charges of possession of firearms and explosives, as well as drugs charges. When all charges not related to drugs were dropped, campaigners seeking a full investigation into the murder of Rosemary Nelson asked the

US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

to investigate the circumstances surrounding the case.Congress asked to investigate Fulton arrest
'' Ireland on Sunday'' Fulton had left for the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1999 soon after Nelson's killing, fuelling speculation that he had been involved.Alleged ex-LVF terror leader released on bail
''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

Trial

Ultimately he was deported from the US rather than facing the charges. Returning to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, he settled in

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

in south-west England. In the town he became associated with a gang of criminals and earned money working as a driver for them. Unbeknownst to Fulton, his associates were actually undercover police officers posing as criminals, and as he opened up to them about his leading role in paramilitarism they secretly taped his confessions. After this surveillance operation, Fulton was arrested in 2002 and charged with 64 offences relating to terrorist activity. Following his arrest he was detained in HMP Maghaberry on a wing with just two other prisoners. One of these, his brother Mark, died there in June 2002. Jim Fulton was freed on bail soon after the death of his brother. Fulton was convicted in 2006 for several LVF-related crimes and sentenced to life in prison. Under British law, he will have to serve at least 28 years. He was convicted of ordering the 1999 murder of Elizabeth O'Neill, a 59-year-old Protestant grandmother whose home in Portadown's Corcrain estate was attacked with a

pipe bomb A pipe bomb is an improvised explosive device (IED) that uses a tightly sealed section of pipe filled with an explosive material. The containment provided by the pipe means that simple low explosives can be used to produce a relatively larg ...

because she was married to a Catholic.Leading LVF man jailed for murder

bbc.co.uk BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and BBC Sport, Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, t ...

She had died after picking up a bomb thrown through her window as she watched television. He was also found guilty of seven attempted murders - four of them arising from a home-made

grenade A grenade is a small explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a Shell (projectile), shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A mod ...

attack on riot police during the Drumcree protests in 1998 - two drug offences and possession of a handgun used to murder Michael McGoldrick in 1996. In all Fulton was found guilty of 48 separate charges in a trial that proved to be the longest in the legal history of Northern Ireland. He was also acquitted of a further 14 charges.LVF KILLER FULTON SENTENCED TO LIFE; Loyalist caught after undercover cops hear he helped in murder.
/ref> His associate was leading loyalist Muriel Gibson, who was indicted along with him. Much of the evidence against Fulton consisted of claims he had made to undercover police officers while living in England. At his trial he claimed that he had lied in order to impress the officers, believing they were members of an important criminal "

firm A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

". Following his sentencing by Mr Justice Hart, one of Fulton's supporters shouted angry abuse at the judge as he left the court: "Farce, scam, you're a disgrace to law and order".

Convictions

The terrorist offences Fulton was convicted of were:Sentencing: The Queen v William James Fulton and Muriel Gibson
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fulton, William James 1968 births Living people Loyalist Volunteer Force members Ulster Volunteer Force members Ulster loyalists imprisoned on terrorism charges People from Northern Ireland convicted of murder Prisoners from Northern Ireland sentenced to life imprisonment Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Northern Ireland People from Portadown