Lenny Murphy
Encyclopedia
Hugh Leonard Thompson Murphy, who commonly went by the name Lenny (or Lennie) (2 March 1952 – 16 November 1982), was an Ulster loyalist
from Belfast
, Northern Ireland
. Murphy was a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and leader of the infamous Shankill Butchers
a gang which became notorious for its torture and murder of Catholic men. Although never convicted of murder
, Murphy is thought to have been responsible for many deaths. Murphy spent long periods in custody from late 1972 to July 1982, being free for a total of only thirteen months during that time. He was shot dead by the Provisional IRA
in November 1982.
A Protestant, Murphy had a fanatical hatred of Roman Catholics. In his book The Shankill Butchers, Belfast journalist Martin Dillon
suggests that Murphy's visceral loathing of Catholics may have stemmed from his own family being suspected of having recent Catholic ancestry, because of his traditionally Irish surname which is more often associated with the other side of the religious divide in Northern Ireland. After his death, his mother commented: "I don't honestly believe he was a bad man"; however an unnamed loyalist from the rival Ulster Defence Association
described Murphy as a "typical psychopath".
in the Belfast docks area. This was where he had met Joyce Thompson, who came from the Shankill. Like his own father (also named William), he worked as a dock labourer. The Murphy family changed their residence several times; in 1957 they returned to Joyce's family home in the lower Shankill, at 28 Percy Street. Murphy's father was reclusive which led to a rumour that he was not the same man and that Joyce was now living with a different 'William Murphy', one who was a Catholic. Lenny Murphy did not use his given first name because Hugh was perceived as a Catholic sounding name, especially when coupled with the surname Murphy. Prior to the erection of a peace wall
in 1970s, Percy Street ran from the lower Shankill area to the Falls Road. A hoodlum at school (Argyle Primary), where he was known for the use of a knife and had his elder brothers to back him up, Murphy logged his first conviction at the age of twelve for theft.
After leaving the Belfast Boys' Model School
at sixteen, he joined the Ulster Volunteer Force
(UVF) and was involved in the rioting
that broke out in Belfast in August 1969. Martin Dillon wrote that it is "incredible to think that Murphy was in fact a murderer at the age of twenty". There were many people at the time who would have found it hard to believe as physically he did not differ from most young men of his age. Dillon described Murphy as having been five feet six and a half inches in height, of a slim build with a sallow complexion, blue eyes, and curly dark brown hair. He sported several tattooes; most of them bearing loyalist images. He was a flashy dresser, often affecting the image of a World War I
flying ace by wearing a leather jacket, scarf casually draped over his left shoulder and occasionally a pair of leather driving-gloves.
His character was marked by a pathological hatred of Catholics which he brought into all of his conversations, often referring to them as "scum and animals". He held a steady job as a shop assistant, although his increasing criminal activities enabled him to indulge in a more flamboyant lifestyle which involved socialising with an array of young women and heavy drinking.
During pre-trial investigations, Murphy was placed in a line-up for possible identification by witnesses to Pavis' shooting. Before the process began formally, he created a disturbance and stepped out of the line-up. However, two witnesses picked him out when order was restored.
Connor and Murphy were held in prison together but, in April 1973, before the trial, Connor died after ingesting cyanide
in his cell. He had written a suicide note
in which he confessed to the crime and exonerated Murphy. It is believed Connor was forced to write the note and take the cyanide. Murphy was sent to trial for the murder of Pavis in June 1973. Although two witnesses identified him as the gunman, he was acquitted on the basis that their evidence may have been affected by the disturbance during the police line-up inquiry. However Murphy was re-arrested and jailed for attempted escapes.
By May 1975 Murphy, now twenty-three, was back on the streets of Belfast. On 5 May 1973, inside the Crumlin Road prison, he had married 19-year-old Margaret Gillespie, by whom he had a daughter. He moved his wife and child to Brookmount Street in the upper Shankill where his parents also had a new home; however, he spent much of his time drinking in Shankill pubs such as The Brown Bear and Lawnbrook Social Club. He also regularly frequented the Bayardo Bar in Aberdeen Street. Murphy later told an IRA inmate that on 13 August 1975 he had just left the Bayardo ten minutes before the Provisional IRA carried out a gun and bombing attack
against the pub which left five Protestants dead and over 50 injured.Stevenson, Jonathan (1996). We Wrecked the Place: contemplating an end to the Northern Irish Troubles. Free Press. p.54
With his brother William he soon formed a gang of more than twenty men that would become known as the Shankill Butchers, one of his lieutenants being William Moore.
The Butchers were also involved in the murder of Noel Shaw, a loyalist from a rival UVF unit, who had shot dead Butcher gang-member Archie Waller in Downing Street, off the Shankill Road, in November 1975. Four days before his death, Waller had been involved in the abduction and murder of the Butchers' first victim, Francis Crossen. One day after Waller's death, Shaw was beaten and pistol-whipped by Murphy while strapped to a chair, then shot. His body was later dumped in a back street off the Shankill.
By the end of 1975, the UVF Brigade Staff had a new leadership of "moderates", but Murphy refused to submit to their authority, preferring to carry out attacks by his own methods. Dillon suggested that whilst some of the Brigade Staff knew about Murphy's activities (albeit not the precise details), they were too frightened of him and his gang to put a stop to them.
On 10 January 1976, Murphy and Moore killed a Catholic man, Edward McQuaid (25), on the Cliftonville Road. Murphy, alighting from Moore's taxi in the small hours, shot the man six times at close range.
whereby he was allowed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of a firearms offence, and received twelve years' imprisonment on 11 October 1977. Dillon notes that the police believed Murphy was involved in the Shankill Butcher murders. To divert suspicion from himself Murphy ordered the rest of the gang to continue the cut-throat murders while he was in prison. The Butchers, now under the operational command of William Moore, went on to kill and mutilate at least three more Catholics.
The police were overworked during this period and little progress was made in the investigation until one victim, Gerard McLaverty survived his assault. Detectives were driving him down the Shankill Road on the way to the scene of his abduction where he recognized two of his assailants walking in the street. This identification of Sam McAllister and Benjamin Edwards led to the arrest of many of the gang in May 1977 and, in February 1979, they were imprisoned for long periods. Confessions of gang members had named Murphy as the leader but statements incriminating him were later retracted. He was questioned once again about the Butcher murders but denied involvement.
The total of sentences handed down to the gang at Belfast Crown Court
was the longest in legal history in the United Kingdom.
on Friday 16 July 1982. During his term inside, his wife Margaret had initiated divorce proceedings which were being finalised at the time of his death. Murphy returned to his old ways, killing at least three more people over the next four months. He is believed to have beaten to death a partially disabled man one day after returning to the Shankill; another victim sold him a car and was shot dead after demanding full payment. Murphy also attempted to extort money from local businessmen who had been sympathetic in the past; however, this encroached on Loyalist figures with established protection rackets. When he kidnapped, tortured and killed a Catholic family man, Murphy used his own house (temporally vacated due to renovations) and left it strewn with blood and the victim's teeth. He was arrested for the murder but later released. The sadism of the widely publicised killing led to Loyalism receiving a great deal of bad publicity and paramilitary figures concluded that Murphy's horrific methods of sectarian murder made him too much of a liability.
reports, the UVF had provided the IRA hit team with the details of Murphy's habits and movements, which allowed them to assassinate him at that particular location. Another line of inquiry ends at Ulster Defence Association
(UDA) leader James Craig
, who saw Murphy as a serious threat to his widespread racketeering and provided the IRA with key information on Murphy's movements. Craig was known to meet IRA commanders to discuss their racketeering activities, he was later killed by his comrades for "treason".
Murphy was given a large paramilitary funeral by the UVF with a guard of honour wearing the UVF uniform and balaclavas. A volley of three shots was fired over his coffin as it was brought out of his house and a piper played "Abide With Me". He was buried in Carnmoney Cemetery; on his tombstone the following words were inscribed: "Here Lies a Soldier". His photograph was displayed inside "The Eagle", the UVF Brigade Staff's headquarters over a chip shop in the Shankill Road. According to investigative journalist Paul Larkin, it graced the walls as a "fallen officer" up until the late 1990s.
Ulster loyalism
Ulster loyalism is an ideology that is opposed to a united Ireland. It can mean either support for upholding Northern Ireland's status as a constituent part of the United Kingdom , support for Northern Ireland independence, or support for loyalist paramilitaries...
from Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. Murphy was a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and leader of the infamous Shankill Butchers
Shankill Butchers
The Shankill Butchers is the name given to an Ulster loyalist gang, many of whom were members of the Ulster Volunteer Force . The gang conducted paramilitary activities during the 1970s in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was most notorious for its late-night kidnapping, torture and murder of random...
a gang which became notorious for its torture and murder of Catholic men. Although never convicted of murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
, Murphy is thought to have been responsible for many deaths. Murphy spent long periods in custody from late 1972 to July 1982, being free for a total of only thirteen months during that time. He was shot dead by the Provisional IRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
in November 1982.
A Protestant, Murphy had a fanatical hatred of Roman Catholics. In his book The Shankill Butchers, Belfast journalist Martin Dillon
Martin Dillon
Martin Dillon is an author and journalist from Northern Ireland. He worked for eighteen years at the BBC and has written a number of plays and novels, but he is best known for his non-fiction books about the Troubles....
suggests that Murphy's visceral loathing of Catholics may have stemmed from his own family being suspected of having recent Catholic ancestry, because of his traditionally Irish surname which is more often associated with the other side of the religious divide in Northern Ireland. After his death, his mother commented: "I don't honestly believe he was a bad man"; however an unnamed loyalist from the rival Ulster Defence Association
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association is the largest although not the deadliest loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during "The Troubles"...
described Murphy as a "typical psychopath".
Early life
Murphy was the youngest of three sons of Joyce and William Murphy from the loyalist Shankill Road, Belfast. William was originally from Fleet Street, SailortownSailortown, Belfast
Sailortown was a working-class dockland community located in the Docks area of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Established in the mid-19th century on partly reclaimed land, it had a mixed Protestant and Catholic population...
in the Belfast docks area. This was where he had met Joyce Thompson, who came from the Shankill. Like his own father (also named William), he worked as a dock labourer. The Murphy family changed their residence several times; in 1957 they returned to Joyce's family home in the lower Shankill, at 28 Percy Street. Murphy's father was reclusive which led to a rumour that he was not the same man and that Joyce was now living with a different 'William Murphy', one who was a Catholic. Lenny Murphy did not use his given first name because Hugh was perceived as a Catholic sounding name, especially when coupled with the surname Murphy. Prior to the erection of a peace wall
Peace lines
The peace lines or peace walls are a series of separation barriers in Northern Ireland that separate Catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods. They have been built at urban interface areas in Belfast, Derry, Portadown and elsewhere...
in 1970s, Percy Street ran from the lower Shankill area to the Falls Road. A hoodlum at school (Argyle Primary), where he was known for the use of a knife and had his elder brothers to back him up, Murphy logged his first conviction at the age of twelve for theft.
After leaving the Belfast Boys' Model School
Belfast Boys' Model School
Belfast Boys' Model School is a secondary school located in Belfast, Northern Ireland.- History :...
at sixteen, he joined the Ulster Volunteer Force
Ulster Volunteer Force
The Ulster Volunteer Force is a loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in late 1965 or early 1966 and named after the Ulster Volunteer Force of 1913. The group's volunteers undertook an armed campaign of almost thirty years during The Troubles...
(UVF) and was involved in the rioting
1969 Northern Ireland Riots
During 12–17 August 1969, Northern Ireland was rocked by intense political and sectarian rioting. There had been sporadic violence throughout the year arising from the civil rights campaign, which was demanding an end to government discrimination against Irish Catholics and nationalists...
that broke out in Belfast in August 1969. Martin Dillon wrote that it is "incredible to think that Murphy was in fact a murderer at the age of twenty". There were many people at the time who would have found it hard to believe as physically he did not differ from most young men of his age. Dillon described Murphy as having been five feet six and a half inches in height, of a slim build with a sallow complexion, blue eyes, and curly dark brown hair. He sported several tattooes; most of them bearing loyalist images. He was a flashy dresser, often affecting the image of a World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
flying ace by wearing a leather jacket, scarf casually draped over his left shoulder and occasionally a pair of leather driving-gloves.
His character was marked by a pathological hatred of Catholics which he brought into all of his conversations, often referring to them as "scum and animals". He held a steady job as a shop assistant, although his increasing criminal activities enabled him to indulge in a more flamboyant lifestyle which involved socialising with an array of young women and heavy drinking.
First crimes
Dillon stated that Murphy was involved in the torture and murder of four Catholic men as early as 1972. On 28 September of that year, a man named William Edward Pavis who went bird shooting with a Catholic was shot dead at his home in East Belfast by loyalists who alleged he was selling firearms to the IRA. Murphy was arrested for this crime along with an accomplice, Mervyn Connor.During pre-trial investigations, Murphy was placed in a line-up for possible identification by witnesses to Pavis' shooting. Before the process began formally, he created a disturbance and stepped out of the line-up. However, two witnesses picked him out when order was restored.
Connor and Murphy were held in prison together but, in April 1973, before the trial, Connor died after ingesting cyanide
Cyanide
A cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the cyano group, -C≡N, which consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Cyanides most commonly refer to salts of the anion CN−. Most cyanides are highly toxic....
in his cell. He had written a suicide note
Suicide note
A suicide note or death note is a message that states the author has died by suicide, and left to be discovered and read in anticipation of suicide....
in which he confessed to the crime and exonerated Murphy. It is believed Connor was forced to write the note and take the cyanide. Murphy was sent to trial for the murder of Pavis in June 1973. Although two witnesses identified him as the gunman, he was acquitted on the basis that their evidence may have been affected by the disturbance during the police line-up inquiry. However Murphy was re-arrested and jailed for attempted escapes.
By May 1975 Murphy, now twenty-three, was back on the streets of Belfast. On 5 May 1973, inside the Crumlin Road prison, he had married 19-year-old Margaret Gillespie, by whom he had a daughter. He moved his wife and child to Brookmount Street in the upper Shankill where his parents also had a new home; however, he spent much of his time drinking in Shankill pubs such as The Brown Bear and Lawnbrook Social Club. He also regularly frequented the Bayardo Bar in Aberdeen Street. Murphy later told an IRA inmate that on 13 August 1975 he had just left the Bayardo ten minutes before the Provisional IRA carried out a gun and bombing attack
Bayardo Bar attack
The Bayardo Bar attack took place on 13 August 1975 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A unit of the Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade, led by Brendan McFarlane, launched a bombing and shooting attack on the pub on Aberdeen Street , which was frequented by Ulster Volunteer Force members...
against the pub which left five Protestants dead and over 50 injured.Stevenson, Jonathan (1996). We Wrecked the Place: contemplating an end to the Northern Irish Troubles. Free Press. p.54
With his brother William he soon formed a gang of more than twenty men that would become known as the Shankill Butchers, one of his lieutenants being William Moore.
Shankill Butchers murders
The gang shot dead four Catholics (two men and two women) during a robbery at a warehouse in October 1975. Over the next few months Murphy and his accomplices began to abduct, torture and murder random Catholic men they dragged off the streets late at night. One victim was reportedly heard screaming "kill me!". Murphy regarded the use of a blade as the "ultimate way to kill", he ended the torture by hacking each victim's throat open with a butcher's knife. The gang killed three Catholic men in this manner. Murphy achieved status though his paramilitary activity and was widely known in the Shankill. Many regarded his crimes as shaming the community but feared the consequences of testifying against him. None of the victims had any connection to the IRA or any other republican group.The Butchers were also involved in the murder of Noel Shaw, a loyalist from a rival UVF unit, who had shot dead Butcher gang-member Archie Waller in Downing Street, off the Shankill Road, in November 1975. Four days before his death, Waller had been involved in the abduction and murder of the Butchers' first victim, Francis Crossen. One day after Waller's death, Shaw was beaten and pistol-whipped by Murphy while strapped to a chair, then shot. His body was later dumped in a back street off the Shankill.
By the end of 1975, the UVF Brigade Staff had a new leadership of "moderates", but Murphy refused to submit to their authority, preferring to carry out attacks by his own methods. Dillon suggested that whilst some of the Brigade Staff knew about Murphy's activities (albeit not the precise details), they were too frightened of him and his gang to put a stop to them.
On 10 January 1976, Murphy and Moore killed a Catholic man, Edward McQuaid (25), on the Cliftonville Road. Murphy, alighting from Moore's taxi in the small hours, shot the man six times at close range.
Imprisonment
Early on 11 March 1976, Murphy shot and injured a young Catholic woman, once again on the Cliftonville. Arrested the next day after attempting to retrieve the gun used, Murphy was charged with attempted murder and remanded in custody for a prolonged period. However, he was able to plea bargainPlea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...
whereby he was allowed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of a firearms offence, and received twelve years' imprisonment on 11 October 1977. Dillon notes that the police believed Murphy was involved in the Shankill Butcher murders. To divert suspicion from himself Murphy ordered the rest of the gang to continue the cut-throat murders while he was in prison. The Butchers, now under the operational command of William Moore, went on to kill and mutilate at least three more Catholics.
The police were overworked during this period and little progress was made in the investigation until one victim, Gerard McLaverty survived his assault. Detectives were driving him down the Shankill Road on the way to the scene of his abduction where he recognized two of his assailants walking in the street. This identification of Sam McAllister and Benjamin Edwards led to the arrest of many of the gang in May 1977 and, in February 1979, they were imprisoned for long periods. Confessions of gang members had named Murphy as the leader but statements incriminating him were later retracted. He was questioned once again about the Butcher murders but denied involvement.
The total of sentences handed down to the gang at Belfast Crown Court
Crown Court
The Crown Court of England and Wales is, together with the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
was the longest in legal history in the United Kingdom.
Last months on the Shankill
On completing his sentence for the firearms charge, Lenny Murphy walked out of the Maze prisonMaze (HM Prison)
Her Majesty's Prison Maze was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from mid-1971 to mid-2000....
on Friday 16 July 1982. During his term inside, his wife Margaret had initiated divorce proceedings which were being finalised at the time of his death. Murphy returned to his old ways, killing at least three more people over the next four months. He is believed to have beaten to death a partially disabled man one day after returning to the Shankill; another victim sold him a car and was shot dead after demanding full payment. Murphy also attempted to extort money from local businessmen who had been sympathetic in the past; however, this encroached on Loyalist figures with established protection rackets. When he kidnapped, tortured and killed a Catholic family man, Murphy used his own house (temporally vacated due to renovations) and left it strewn with blood and the victim's teeth. He was arrested for the murder but later released. The sadism of the widely publicised killing led to Loyalism receiving a great deal of bad publicity and paramilitary figures concluded that Murphy's horrific methods of sectarian murder made him too much of a liability.
Death
On 16 November 1982, Murphy had just pulled up outside the rear of his girlfriend's house in the Glencairn area of the upper Shankill when two Provisional IRA gunmen emerged from a black van nearby and opened fire with an assault rifle and a 9 mm pistol. Murphy was hit by more than twenty rounds and died instantly. Coincidentally, he was gunned down just around the corner from where the bodies of many of the Butchers' victims had been dumped. A few days after his death the IRA claimed responsibility. According to RUCRoyal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...
reports, the UVF had provided the IRA hit team with the details of Murphy's habits and movements, which allowed them to assassinate him at that particular location. Another line of inquiry ends at Ulster Defence Association
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association is the largest although not the deadliest loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during "The Troubles"...
(UDA) leader James Craig
James Craig (loyalist)
James Pratt "Jim" Craig was a Northern Irish loyalist, who served as a fund-raiser for the Ulster Defence Association and sat on its Inner Council. He also ran a large protection racket from west Belfast's Shankill Road area, where he lived...
, who saw Murphy as a serious threat to his widespread racketeering and provided the IRA with key information on Murphy's movements. Craig was known to meet IRA commanders to discuss their racketeering activities, he was later killed by his comrades for "treason".
Murphy was given a large paramilitary funeral by the UVF with a guard of honour wearing the UVF uniform and balaclavas. A volley of three shots was fired over his coffin as it was brought out of his house and a piper played "Abide With Me". He was buried in Carnmoney Cemetery; on his tombstone the following words were inscribed: "Here Lies a Soldier". His photograph was displayed inside "The Eagle", the UVF Brigade Staff's headquarters over a chip shop in the Shankill Road. According to investigative journalist Paul Larkin, it graced the walls as a "fallen officer" up until the late 1990s.
Sources
- The Shankill Butchers, Martin DillonMartin DillonMartin Dillon is an author and journalist from Northern Ireland. He worked for eighteen years at the BBC and has written a number of plays and novels, but he is best known for his non-fiction books about the Troubles....
, 1989 ISBN 0-415-92231-3 - Crime Library's Through a Veil of Blood and Tears article
- Political Murder in Northern Ireland Martin DillonMartin DillonMartin Dillon is an author and journalist from Northern Ireland. He worked for eighteen years at the BBC and has written a number of plays and novels, but he is best known for his non-fiction books about the Troubles....
and Denis Lehane (Penguin, 1973) - "Murdered Man was not the Shankill Butcher, says mother", News Letter, 18 November 1982