BILLY WRIGHT came to public notoriety during the early Drumcree standoffs in 1995 and 1996. He had by then split from the Ulster Volunteer Force to form the Loyalist Volunteer Force because of his opposition to the peace process.
He was a familiar sight strutting around Drumcree Hill or in Portadown with his followers. He had an intimidating presence and his sidekicks were in awe of him.
While in the UVF and LVF, it is reckoned that he and these organisations were responsible for dozens of murders, including that of GAA official Seán Brown in Bellaghy, Co Derry, in May 1997, and Catholic taxi driver Michael McGoldrick on July 8th during Drumcree 1996.
The murder of Mr McGoldrick was viewed as a “birthday present” for Wright, who had turned 36 the previous day.
He was dubbed “King Rat” by the Sunday World journalist Martin O’Hagan, who was forced to leave Northern Ireland for a period because of threats from Wright’s UVF.
Before and after Wright’s murder in 1997, O’Hagan exposed the drug dealing and other criminal activities of the LVF. In September 2001 the LVF murdered the journalist.
Wright survived several assassination attempts, including one by former INLA leader Dominic McGlinchey, himself the victim of assassination.
Wright was born in 1960. His parents split up when he was six and he was sent to a welfare home in Mount Norris, a small town in south Armagh. He played Gaelic football and soccer with boys of both main religions. He recalled his primary school teacher as being a Protestant nationalist who enriched his life.
He cited the 1976 IRA Kingsmills sectarian massacre in south Armagh, in which 10 Protestant workers were murdered, as the turning point in his life. “I realised then that these people were murdered because of what I was, a Protestant,” he said.
