Billy Wright (loyalist) - Killing

Killing

A tense situation existed within the Maze Prison. INLA inmates had told staff "they intend, given a chance, to take out the LVF". The Prison Officers Association said precautions had been put in place to ensure inmates from the two groups did not come into contact with each other. Prison officers, however, had grave concerns over security measures in H Block 6, where Wright and the LVF were housed. The situation was made more volatile because, unlike the IRA, the UVF, and the UDA, neither the LVF nor the INLA were on ceasefire.

The decision to kill Wright inside the Maze was made in mid-December 1997 at an INLA Ard Chomhairle which was attended by the INLA Chief of Staff. The assassination was to be carried out in retaliation for the LVF killing of GAA member Gerry Devlin which had taken place shortly before. On 16 December a senior INLA member who had been at the Ard Chomhairle went to the Maze to pay a visit to the Officer Commanding of the INLA at H Block 6.

On the morning of Saturday 27 December 1997, just before 10.00 a.m., Wright was assassinated by INLA prisoners inside the Maze Prison. The operation was undertaken by three INLA volunteers – Christopher "Crip" McWilliams, John "Sonny" Glennon and John Kennaway – armed with two smuggled pistols, an PA63 semi-automatic and a .22 Derringer. He was shot in the forecourt outside H Block 6 as he sat in the back of a prison van (alongside another LVF prisoner, Norman Green and one prison officer acting as escort) on his way to the visitor's complex where he had an arranged visit with his girlfriend, Eleanor Reilly. John Glennon had been pretending to paint a mural in the sterile area between A and B wings which placed him in a position to see and hear what happened in the forecourt. Upon hearing the announcement over the prison Tannoy system that Wright and Green had been called for their respective visits, Glennon gave a pre-arranged signal to his two waiting comrades. They moved into position at the A wing turnstile; Glennon ran into the canteen and he mounted a table situated beneath a window which gave him a clearer view of the block forecourt. When he saw Wright entering the van at 9.59 a.m. he gave a second pre-arranged signal, which was: "Go, go, go".

The three INLA men rushed through the turnstile leading to A wing's exercise yard. Peeling away a pre-cut section of wire fence, they climbed onto the roof of A wing and dropped into the forecourt where the Renault van containing Wright had just started to move forward towards the exit gates. The van was ordered to stop by the armed INLA men; however, the driver, John Park, thinking that he and the other officer were about to be taken hostage, intended to accelerate through the partially opened gates in a bid to escape. He was prevented from doing so when the gates were automatically shut. The other prison officers stationed at the forecourt gates had spotted the men on the roof, and assuming there was a prison escape in progress, activated the alarm system. The van was ten feet away from the gates when it came to a halt. Neither of the two prison officers inside the van was armed.

While an unarmed Kennaway physically restrained the driver, Glennon, armed with the Derringer, gave cover beside the van as McWilliams opened the side door on the left at the rear, and shouted the words: "Armed INLA volunteers". With a smile on his face, he then took up a firing stance and aimed his PA63 pistol inside the van at Wright, who was sitting sideways facing the side door beside Norman Green, with Prison Officer Stephen Sterritt seated behind the driver. Wright had been in the middle of a conversation, discussing the "cost of Christmas", with both men. After McWilliams ordered Sterritt to "fuck up and sit in his seat" and Green to get out of the way, the two men instantly dropped to the floor to protect themselves; however, Wright stood up and kicked out at his assailant who began firing at point blank range. Green pleaded with Wright to "get down", but McWilliams climbed into the van and continued shooting at Wright, hitting him a total of seven times. Wright, despite being shot, continued to defend himself by moving forward, kicking and lashing out at McWilliams. Wright was fatally wounded by the last shot, the bullet having lacerated his aorta. He slumped against the legs of Green. After screaming "they shot Billy", Green made an attempt to resuscitate Wright, but to no avail; he was brought to the prison hospital, where a doctor pronounced him dead at 10.53 a.m. None of the others inside the van were hurt. Immediately following the shooting attack, the three gunmen returned the way they had come and surrendered to prison guards. They handed over a statement:

Billy Wright was executed for one reason and one reason only, and that was for directing and waging his campaign of terror against the nationalist people from his prison cell in Long Kesh .