Editing Billy Wright (loyalist) (section)

===Inquiry and allegations===
The nature of Wright's killing, within a high security prison, has led to speculation that the authorities colluded with the INLA to have him killed as he was a danger to the emerging peace process. Four days before his death, Wright himself believed that he would shortly be killed within the Maze Prison by agents of the British and Irish governments in collusion with loyalist informers and the INLA.<ref name="inquiry2005">{{Cite web |url=http://www.billywrightinquiry.org/transcripts/date/20051213/ |title=The Billy Wright Inquiry: transcript of the 13 December 2005 hearing |access-date=12 May 2011 |archive-date=10 December 2010 |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20101210144042/http://www.billywrightinquiry.org/transcripts/date/20051213/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The INLA strongly denied these rumours, and published a detailed account of the assassination in the March/April 1999 issue of ''[[The Starry Plough (newspaper)|The Starry Plough]]'' newspaper.<ref name="Starry Plough"/> Wright's father, David, had campaigned for a public inquiry into his son's murder and had appealed for help to the Northern Ireland, British and Irish authorities for help in the matter. The murder was investigated by the [[Cory Collusion Inquiry]] and it was recommended that the UK Government launch an inquiry into the circumstances of Wright's death. The Cory Inquiry concluded that "whatever criticism might properly be made regarding the reprehensible life and crimes of Billy Wright, it is apparent that he met his death bravely", and described his killing as "brutal and cowardly".<ref name="cory12">{{Cite web|url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/collusion/cory/cory03wright.pdf|title=Cory Collusion Inquiry Report: Billy Wright, p.12}}</ref>

June 2005 saw the Billy Wright inquiry open,<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4522306.stm | work=BBC News | title=Hearing in Wright murder inquiry | date=13 December 2005 | access-date=26 April 2010}}</ref> chaired by [[Ranald MacLean, Lord MacLean|Lord MacLean]]. Also sitting on the inquiry were academic professor [[Andrew Coyle]] from the [[University of London]] and the former Anglican [[Bishop of Hereford]], the Right Reverend John Oliver.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.billywrightinquiry.org/ |title=Billy Wright Inquiry |access-date=12 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705145345/http://www.billywrightinquiry.org/ |archive-date=5 July 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> On 14 September 2010, the findings of the panel were released publicly at Stormont House in Belfast and found that there was no evidence of collusion between the authorities and the INLA.<ref name="bbcni">[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11296755 "Negligence not collusion led to Billy Wright murder". BBC News Northern Ireland. 14 September 2010] Retrieved 3 October 2011</ref> The inquiry, which had cost £30 million,<ref name="utv"/><ref name="bbcni"/> did find a number of failings within the security of the prison.<ref name="bbcni"/> There was the main question of how the weapons were smuggled inside the prison to the killers.<ref name="bbc"/> There was also the issue regarding the decision to house the INLA and LVF in H Block 6, when it was known that they were deadly rivals, neither of which was on ceasefire, and the INLA had vowed to kill Wright given the opportunity.<ref name="bbc"/><ref name="bbcni"/> McWilliams and Kennaway had been transferred to the Maze from Maghaberry the previous May. One month before their transfer, when Wright had still been at Maghaberry, they had organised an unsuccessful hostage-taking incident at the prison. This was meant to end in the assassination of Wright; he was subsequently moved to the Maze.<ref name="bbc"/> Other questions were raised after the discovery that on the morning of the killing, Prison Officer Raymond Hill was stood down from his post in the watchtower overlooking A and B wings of H-Block 6 where the INLA prisoners were housed.<ref name="bbc"/> The CCTV camera placed in the area was also found to have been nonfunctioning for several days prior to the shooting.<ref name="bbc"/> The visitors lists for 27 December 1997 had been circulated in both the LVF and INLA wings the day before thereby giving Wright's assassins time to prepare for the killing as the list clearly stated that Wright was scheduled to receive a visit on 27 December.<ref name="bbc"/> The LVF prison van had been parked outside the INLA wing that morning instead of following the normal procedure which was to park outside the LVF wing.<ref name="bbc"/> And the gates leading from the forecourt were automatically locked as soon as the killers were spotted on the roof. This had prevented the van from driving off and thus effectively trapped Wright in the rear.<ref name="bbc"/>

In an interview with ''The Guardian'' before his own death, one of the killers, John Kennaway said the security inside the Maze was "a joke". He claimed the weapons had been smuggled to McWilliams and Glennon inside nappies. He added that as soon as the "screws" [prison officers] had seen the INLA men on A wing's roof, they assumed the men were staging an escape and sounded the alarm system. The gates were automatically locked-down therefore preventing the van from leaving. Kennaway suggested that had the prison officers not seen them and quickly sounded the alarm, the van could have driven away in time and Wright might have escaped with his life.<ref name="guardian">{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/sep/13/billy-wright-assassin-maze-security|title=Billy Wright assassin: Maze security was 'a joke'|date=13 September 2010|website=The Guardian}}</ref>

Shortly before the findings of the inquiry into Wright's death were released in September 2010, [[Ulster Television]] News broadcast a report regarding the question of collusion. South Belfast UDA brigadier [[Jackie McDonald]] explained to Ulster Television's ''Live Tonight'' the UVF's mindset at the time Wright was threatened with execution by the CLMC in 1996, "It was obvious he [Wright] was doing his own thing and going his own way. I think he had become such an embarrassment to the UVF that they had to send word to him to get out of the country – that's when the LVF was formed, that's when the breakaway group appeared." When asked by the interviewer whether or not the CLMC had actually been prepared to carry out the death threat against Wright McDonald replied, "You have to be prepared to kill people if you tell them to do something and they don't do it – something of that magnitude. If you say they had to go and they don't go – the defiance alone, it doesn't leave many alternatives". McDonald expressed his belief that there had probably been no state collusion in Wright's death.<ref name="utv">[http://www.u.tv/News/Wright-retaliations-were-necessary-evil/ddedd2e8-8468-4d21-af94-ab00875f342d "Wright retaliations were 'necessary evil'". UTV News. 14 September 2010] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100918055926/http://www.u.tv/News/Wright-retaliations-were-necessary-evil/ddedd2e8-8468-4d21-af94-ab00875f342d |date=18 September 2010 }}. Retrieved 1 October 2011</ref> Equally dismissive of the allegations of collusion, Willie Gallagher of the [[Republican Socialist Movement]] offered the suggestion that had the INLA not killed Wright, he would have been released from prison shortly afterwards. Once free, Wright would have continued to conduct and orchestrate his murder campaign against nationalists.<ref name="utv"/>

On 30 September 2011, Billy's father David Wright died in Portadown at the age of 78. After his funeral service at the Killicomain [[Baptists|Baptist Church]], he was buried, like Billy, in Seagoe Cemetery. Up until his death, he had continued to profess his belief that there had been state collusion in his son's killing. He denounced the findings of the inquiry released in 2010 as a "total whitewash and a failure to get at the truth".<ref name="utv1">[http://www.u.tv/News/Funeral-for-LVF-leader-Wrights-father/fa16465b-125d-4c16-8126-43f9d1aeef2c "Funeral for LVF leader Wright's father". UTV News. 2 October 2011] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130418223406/http://www.u.tv/News/Funeral-for-LVF-leader-Wrights-father/fa16465b-125d-4c16-8126-43f9d1aeef2c |date=18 April 2013 }} Retrieved 3 October 2011</ref>