Loyalists plotted to kill priests, court told

Feared renegade loyalist boss Billy Wright threatened to kidnap and kill three priests if Orangemen were not allowed to march on the flashpoint Garvaghy Road at the height of the 1996 Drumcree stand-off, a court heard today.

The plan to abduct three priests from the parochial house in Gilford, Co Armagh, also involved one of Wright’s closest associates at the time, Mark “Swinger” Fulton.

But the plot was later abandoned and instead, a Catholic taxi driver was seized and shot five times in the head to mark Wright’s 36th birthday, Belfast Crown Court was told.

The alleged gunman was Clifford McKeown, 43, who it is claimed killed his victim Michael McGoldrick after he was lured to a laneway on the outskirts of Lurgan, Co Armagh.

McKeown, from Parkmore in Craigavon, denies carrying out the murder.

Mr McGoldrick, who was married with a seven-year-old daughter had been working as part-time driver for a firm in Lurgan. He had just graduated from Queen’s University in Belfast.

On the opening day of McKeown’s trial, prosecuting barrister Gordon Kerr QC told the court that he had confessed to the killing in a series of interviews with freelance journalist Nick Martin-Clarke in the summer of 1999 while in custody at Maghaberry Prison, Co Antrim.

Mr Kerr said that during one meeting, McKeown asked Mr Clarke to check the relevance of July 7 – the date of the murder.

“He (McKeown) told him that the date was Billy Wright’s birthday and McGoldrick was Billy Wright’s birthday present.”

Mr Clarke then allegedly asked if “Swinger” Fulton carried out the murder and McKeown replied: “No, you’re looking at him.”

Mr Kerr said the journalist would testify that he was told by McKeown that Wright and Fulton met at a house two days before the murder and came up with the plan to kidnap three priests, leaving behind a fourth to reveal their bloody ultimatum.

The lawyer added: “They were to be shot if Orangemen weren’t allowed down the Garvaghy Road. The accused said it was his job to put a team together.

“The next day the plan had been changed because of potential adverse publicity. They then decided on shooting a taxi driver.”

Wright, who was later shot dead by the INLA at the Maze Prison on December 27, 1997, was expelled from the UVF after the killing of Mr McGoldrick.

On June 10 last year, Fulton, who became leader of the breakaway LVF after Wright’s murder, hanged himself in his cell at Maghaberry where he was awaiting trial on terrorist charges.

The court was told that McKeown carried out the taxi driver’s murder with the help of an experienced colleague and two young men, who were brought along to be “blooded”.

On the night of the killing, Mr McGoldrick allegedly picked up one of the younger men, posing as a Catholic, from a cinema and leisure complex in Lurgan.

The taxi driver was then asked to stop for another man on a country road close to the village of Aghalee.

It was claimed that McKeown, who was sitting in another car, got into the taxi and fired four times into the back of Mr McGoldrick’s head, firing a final shot “just to finish him off”.

McKeown allegedly told the journalist that he used .22 bullets because they were not messy. A year later the murder weapon and 30 rounds of ammunition were found by police in Aghalee.

The court was also told that McKeown had been questioned by police a number of times in relation to the murder but had repeatedly denied any involvement.

Interviewed after Mr Clarke made a statement to the police, the accused said that the journalist had put details of the killing to him but that he wouldn’t comment on them.

Mr Kerr told the court: “The Crown’s case will be that the accused has admitted his part in the murder of Mr McGoldrick.

“He gave significant details to Mr Clarke which are consistent only with participation, not someone inventing or describing a second or third hand affair.”