Ned McCreery
Encyclopedia
Edward "Ned" McCreery was a Northern Irish
loyalist
. A leading member of the Ulster Defence Association
(UDA), he was notorious for the use of torture in his killings. McCreery came from a well-known east Belfast
family that produced a number of leading loyalists as well as footballers, including his cousin David McCreery
.
and Jim Cusack, McCreery was responsible for the murders of at least six Catholics
in 1972 and also launched a grenade attack on a busload of Catholic workers. His gang became notorious, along with the groups led by John White
and Davy Payne
, for pioneering the use of torture in their murders, something that was new to Northern Ireland at the time.
McCreery's name was even mentioned in connection with the killing of Tommy Herron
in 1973. According to one theory the two had a long-running dispute over money that ended when McCreery used a woman to lure Herron into a deadly ambush. The theory remains unproven and is one of a number of competing ideas as Herron's death remains unsolved. Following the introduction of internment in 1973, McCreery was one of the first UDA members to be taken into custody.
, decided to leave the organisation after becoming disillusioned with killing. Baker turned himself into the police and agreed to testify against a number of UDA leaders, including McCreery. Baker's evidence saw McCreery and six others brought to trial for the torture and murder of James McCartan on 3 October 1972. However the evidence Baker provided proved incoherent and was tailored in an attempt to minimise his own involvement resulting in the judge dismissing the case and McCreery going free. McCartan had been kidnapped from the lobby of the Park Avenue Hotel, Holywood Road and tortured at two separate Newtownards Road UDA clubs on Finmore Street and Clermont Lane before being shot dead. According to the evidence presented McCreery had directed the torture but had left the shooting to Baker, preferring to remain behind and drink at the Clermont Lane club.
Whilst being held McCreery was part of a Camp Council that met from time to time in the Maze
and in which issues affecting prisoners in the compound were discussed. The Council was established by Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) leader Gusty Spence
and Provisional IRA members Proinsias MacAirt
and Billy McKee
, to which UDA representatives McCreery and James Craig
as well as Official IRA
(OIRA) and Irish National Liberation Army
(INLA) representatives were added.
McCreery was released on 17 February 1974 prompting celebrations in his native east Belfast that quickly escalated into a riot. A gun battle between the UDA and the army
followed with UDA volunteer Kirk Watters and local non-combatant Gary Reid, a cousin of footballer George Best
, both shot and killed by soldiers. However Sammy McCormick
, recently appointed east Belfast brigadier, soon called a halt to the mayhem and over the coming weeks instilled a discipline within the ranks of his brigade that had previously been lacking in the area.
. This made him effectively one of the six leaders of the movement.
An internal UDA inquiry in the early 1990s determined that McCreery was also a police agent and claimed that he had even passed on information about fellow UDA members to Irish republicans. McCreery's close links to Craig, who had been killed in 1988 following similar claims, as well as the persona non grata Tommy Lyttle
sealed his fate and a death sentence was passed on McCreery by the new UDA leadership in early 1992. He was shot and killed outside his home on Grahams Bridge Road, Dundonald
on 15 April 1992. He was 46 years old. The killing was claimed by the UFF's Special Assignment Section which had first appeared in 1988 when it claimed Craig's murder. McCreery was killed by leading gunman Geordie Legge who would later also be killed by fellow UDA members after speaking out against the organised crime activities of Jim Gray. Ironically Gray was also believed to have issued the order to kill McCreery.
Following his death an Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) statement described McCreery as an "enemy of Ulster" and accused him of being a leading figure within the illegal drugs trade.
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...
loyalist
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...
. A leading member of the 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), he was notorious for the use of torture in his killings. McCreery came from a well-known east 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...
family that produced a number of leading loyalists as well as footballers, including his cousin David McCreery
David McCreery
David McCreery is a former Northern Ireland international footballer who played for Newcastle United....
.
Rise to prominence
Holding the rank of Colonel within the UDA, McCreery sat on the group's Inner Council in the early 1970s. According to Henry McDonaldHenry McDonald (writer)
Henry McDonald is a writer and is the Irish editor for The Observer, the sister paper of The Guardian.McDonald has written extensively about The Troubles, its precedents, its consequences, its demographics, and such. He was born in the nationalist Markets area of Belfast and attended St. Malachy's...
and Jim Cusack, McCreery was responsible for the murders of at least six Catholics
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
in 1972 and also launched a grenade attack on a busload of Catholic workers. His gang became notorious, along with the groups led by John White
John White (loyalist)
John White is a former leading loyalist in Northern Ireland. He was sometimes known by the nickname 'Coco'. White was a leading figure in the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association and, following a prison sentence for murder, entered politics as a central figure in the Ulster Democratic...
and Davy Payne
Davy Payne
David "Davy" Payne was a senior Northern Irish loyalist and a high-ranking member of the Ulster Defence Association during the Troubles serving as brigadier of the North Belfast Brigade. He was second-in-command of the Shankill Road brigade of the Ulster Freedom Fighters , which was the "cover...
, for pioneering the use of torture in their murders, something that was new to Northern Ireland at the time.
McCreery's name was even mentioned in connection with the killing of Tommy Herron
Tommy Herron
Tommy Herron was a loyalist from Northern Ireland, and a leading member of the Ulster Defence Association up until his fatal shooting. Herron controlled the UDA in East Belfast, one of its two earliest strongholds...
in 1973. According to one theory the two had a long-running dispute over money that ended when McCreery used a woman to lure Herron into a deadly ambush. The theory remains unproven and is one of a number of competing ideas as Herron's death remains unsolved. Following the introduction of internment in 1973, McCreery was one of the first UDA members to be taken into custody.
Imprisonment and trial
In 1973 Albert "Ginger" Baker, a soldier and UDA volunteerVolunteer (Ulster loyalist)
Volunteer, abbreviated Vol., is a title used by a number of Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisations to describe their members.-History of the term volunteer in Ireland:...
, decided to leave the organisation after becoming disillusioned with killing. Baker turned himself into the police and agreed to testify against a number of UDA leaders, including McCreery. Baker's evidence saw McCreery and six others brought to trial for the torture and murder of James McCartan on 3 October 1972. However the evidence Baker provided proved incoherent and was tailored in an attempt to minimise his own involvement resulting in the judge dismissing the case and McCreery going free. McCartan had been kidnapped from the lobby of the Park Avenue Hotel, Holywood Road and tortured at two separate Newtownards Road UDA clubs on Finmore Street and Clermont Lane before being shot dead. According to the evidence presented McCreery had directed the torture but had left the shooting to Baker, preferring to remain behind and drink at the Clermont Lane club.
Whilst being held McCreery was part of a Camp Council that met from time to time in the Maze
Maze (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....
and in which issues affecting prisoners in the compound were discussed. The Council was established by Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) leader Gusty Spence
Gusty Spence
Augustus Andrew "Gusty" Spence was a leader of the Ulster Volunteer Force and a leading loyalist politician. One of the first UVF members to be convicted of murder, Spence was a senior figure in the organisation for over a decade but later renounced violence and joined the Progressive Unionist...
and Provisional IRA members Proinsias MacAirt
Proinsias MacAirt
Proinsias MacAirt was an Irish republican activist and long-serving member of various stripes of the Irish Republican Army.-Early years:...
and Billy McKee
Billy McKee
Billy McKee is an Irish republican and was a founding member and former leader of the Provisional Irish Republican Army .-Early life:McKee was born in Belfast in the early 1920s, and joined the Irish Republican Army in 1939. During the Second World War, the IRA carried out a number of armed...
, to which UDA representatives McCreery and 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...
as well as Official IRA
Official IRA
The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA is an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to create a "32-county workers' republic" in Ireland. It emerged from a split in the Irish Republican Army in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of "The Troubles"...
(OIRA) and Irish National Liberation Army
Irish National Liberation Army
The Irish National Liberation Army or INLA is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group that was formed on 8 December 1974. Its goal is to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a socialist united Ireland....
(INLA) representatives were added.
McCreery was released on 17 February 1974 prompting celebrations in his native east Belfast that quickly escalated into a riot. A gun battle between the UDA and the army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
followed with UDA volunteer Kirk Watters and local non-combatant Gary Reid, a cousin of footballer George Best
George Best
George Best was a professional footballer from Northern Ireland, who played for Manchester United and the Northern Ireland national team. He was a winger whose game combined pace, acceleration, balance, two-footedness, goalscoring and the ability to beat defenders...
, both shot and killed by soldiers. However Sammy McCormick
Sammy McCormick
Samuel "Sammy" McCormick was a Northern Irish loyalist who served from 1973 until the 1980s as the brigadier for the Ulster Defence Association's East Belfast Brigade...
, recently appointed east Belfast brigadier, soon called a halt to the mayhem and over the coming weeks instilled a discipline within the ranks of his brigade that had previously been lacking in the area.
Later years
McCreery remained an active figure in loyalism and according to author Ian S. Wood, McCreery was probably one of those who killed Protestant Margaret Caulfield in Ballysillan on 7 May 1986. However during the 1980s he began to take more of a role in the racketeering side of the movement. Towards the end of the decade he began to garner a reputation within the movement for corruption and greed, a trait shared by his old ally Craig. By this time his base was the Avenue One on Templemore Avenue, a bar which he owned. He had risen to the rank of Brigadier of the East Belfast UDA, following the resignation of Billy ElliotBilly Elliot (loyalist)
William "Billy" Elliot was a former Northern Irish loyalist who served as brigadier of the Ulster Defence Association's East Belfast Brigade in the 1980s.-Ulster Defence Association:...
. This made him effectively one of the six leaders of the movement.
An internal UDA inquiry in the early 1990s determined that McCreery was also a police agent and claimed that he had even passed on information about fellow UDA members to Irish republicans. McCreery's close links to Craig, who had been killed in 1988 following similar claims, as well as the persona non grata Tommy Lyttle
Tommy Lyttle
Tommy "Tucker" Lyttle , was a high-ranking Northern Irish loyalist who was a member of the Ulster Defence Association . He served as the UDA's spokesman as well as the leader of the organisation's West Belfast Brigade from 1975 until his arrest and imprisonment in 1990...
sealed his fate and a death sentence was passed on McCreery by the new UDA leadership in early 1992. He was shot and killed outside his home on Grahams Bridge Road, Dundonald
Dundonald
Dundonald is a large settlement in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies east of Belfast and is often deemed to be a suburb of the city. It includes the large housing estate of Ballybeen, and many new housing estates have emerged in the past ten years....
on 15 April 1992. He was 46 years old. The killing was claimed by the UFF's Special Assignment Section which had first appeared in 1988 when it claimed Craig's murder. McCreery was killed by leading gunman Geordie Legge who would later also be killed by fellow UDA members after speaking out against the organised crime activities of Jim Gray. Ironically Gray was also believed to have issued the order to kill McCreery.
Following his death an Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) statement described McCreery as an "enemy of Ulster" and accused him of being a leading figure within the illegal drugs trade.