William Moore (loyalist)
William Moore | |
---|---|
Born | 1949 Belfast, Northern Ireland |
Died | 17 May 2009 (aged 60) Belfast, Northern Ireland |
Nationality | British |
Other names | Billy Moore |
Occupation | Meat packer |
Known for | Member of the Shankill Butchers gang |
William Moore (1949 – 17 May 2009), was a Northern Irish loyalist. He was a member of the Shankill Butchers, an Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gang. It was Moore who provided the black taxi and butcher knives which the gang used to carry out its killings. Following ringleader Lenny Murphy's arrest, Moore took over as the de facto leader of the gang and the killings continued.
Shankill Butchers
Moore was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and brought up a
Beginning in November 1975, the gang started abducting and murdering
The following year, on 13 March 1976, Murphy was arrested and subsequently convicted of a firearms offence, and to divert suspicion from himself he ordered the "Butcher" slayings to continue. They did so, with Moore now acting as the de facto leader. Moore personally slit the throat of a young Catholic student from ear-to-ear and kicked another man to death. He also encouraged the others to torture the victims before killing them.[5] The gang also killed several rival loyalist paramilitaries as a result of petty feuds, in addition to planting a bomb in a Catholic neighbourhood during a Provisional IRA parade. The bomb killed a 10-year-old boy, and wounded over 100 people.
Conviction and imprisonment
In 1977, after a victim, Gerard McLaverty escaped alive, the
Journalist Martin Dillon, author of the book The Shankill Butchers: the real story of cold-blooded mass murder, described Moore as having been "the quiet man" inside the Shankill Butchers gang. However, behind his unassuming manner lurked a "cold, vicious bigot".[8] Even after Moore's arrest, his mother had personally thanked Inspector Jimmy Nesbitt for taking her son off the streets and putting him in jail.[8] According to Dillon, Moore was content to take orders from Murphy and revelled in the attention and adulation which came his way from Murphy and the other gang members by having provided the taxi and knives used in the attacks.[8]
Moore was released from the Maze in 1998 under the terms of the
Death
Moore died in his home in the loyalist
At the time of his death, Moore was due to be questioned by the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) over his role in the 1974 killing of a 52-year-old Catholic man, John Crawford of Andersonstown, who had been abducted then beaten and shot dead by a UVF gang in the vicinity of Milltown Cemetery.[5]
References
- ^ Peter Taylor (1999). Loyalists. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. p. 153
- ^ a b c d e Taylor, p. 153
- ^ Steve Bruce, The Red Hand, Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 175
- ^ Taylor, pp. 153–154
- ^ a b c Belfast Telegraph
- ^ Taylor, p. 154
- ^ Bruce, pp. 178–179
- ^ a b c d e f g "A legacy of hatred", Sunday Life. Belfast Telegraph. Martin Dillon. 24 May 2009.
- ^ Scottish Daily Record – 15 March 2005
- ^ Shankill Butcher death inquiry-The Newsletter
- ^ [1] "Press man beaten at UVF funeral", BBC News, 21 May 2009
Sources
- ISBN 0-415-92231-3
- ISBN 0-7475-4519-7