Family of murdered loyalist leader told their lives are in danger

Major safety and security concerns were expressed when PSNI top brass met relatives of UVF chief William ‘Frenchie’ Marchant last week.

On Friday afternoon last, a delegation made up of the Marchant family and friends visited the PSNI’s HQ in east Belfast.

They had previously arranged to hand over an explosive new dossier which alleges RUC collusion in their dad’s death.

Compiled by the Ulidia Legacy & Educational Trust, the Marchant File concludes that loyalists, republicans and members of the security services were involved in a triangle of collusion.

It was during the meeting at the PSNI’s headquarters that an officer voiced concerns about the Marchant family’s safety.

Speaking to the Sunday World yesterday, Martin Marchant (51) – a son of the murdered loyalist – said: “We already knew this report would put us in danger. But despite our concerns, we are determined to get to the truth. After meeting with the police, it’s clear they share our concerns.

“The police we met appear genuinely worried about us and it was obvious they realise the dangers we now face. Senior officers agreed to read the document delivered to them.”

Martin said he and his two brothers gave a deathbed commitment to their sister Helena, who died of cancer six years ago.

“Lena always believed there was much more to our father’s murder than we were told.”

He added: “In publishing the Marchant File, we’ve delivered on our promise to our sister.”

William Marchant – a senior member of the UVF who held the rank of major – died in a hail of IRA bullets on April 28, 1987.

The 39-year-old father of four had been centrally involved in the infamous Dublin/Monaghan bomb attacks 13 years earlier, which killed 33 people.

But a new dossier alleging collusion among republican murder gangs, the security services and loyalist gangsters has uncovered shocking new evidence relating to the Marchant murder.

The Marchant File, a 71-page report, alleges the PSNI and the Police Ombudsman’s Office failed to fully investigate IRA collusion with criminal loyalists and members of the security services, in relation to the murder.

Martin says he believes the report will blow away the belief that the police solely colluded with loyalists in the Troubles.

He said: “All we ever hear about is British collusion in murder here or RUC collusion with loyalists, but I honestly believe our research shows we have uncovered collusion between the IRA and loyalist criminals. And that the police knew all about it.

“When my father was murdered on the Shankill Road, innocent members of the public were standing all around him. The report shows the cops knew what was about to happen.”

Following a series of interviews with a number of sources prior to the release of the Marchant File, the Sunday World pulls back some of the web of intrigue leading to its publication.

The origins of double dealing between loyalists and republicans began in the early 1980s in Crumlin Road Prison, when – following serious rioting inside the jail – prisoners from both sides held a two-day conference. Prisoners from both sides hammered out a “Top Man Agreement”.

This meant that 10 named loyalists from the UDA and the UVF, and 10 named republicans from the IRA and the INLA, would be totally exempt from terrorist attacks by either side.

But following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985, Jimmy Craig – a UDA leader, well-known loyalist gangster and extortionist – took steps to protect himself from both sides.

Using a family connection to IRA killer Joe Haughey, he secretly set up a number of leading loyalists for murder, including UDA man William ‘Bucky’ McCullough and notorious Shankill Butchers boss Lenny Murphy.

But the UDA leadership was suspicious of Craig and moved him to south Belfast, where there was rich pickings to be had on the many building-site rackets.

The Marchant File alleges British government spooks were keen to see the end of Craig.

UVF leader John Bingham became aware of Craig’s dirty dealings. As a result, Craig arranged for the IRA to murder him. ‘Frenchie’ Marchant took over Bingham’s role in the UVF leadership after Bingham’s assassination. He organised the murder of IRA leader Larry Marley in reprisal for Bingham’s murder.

Marchant had full knowledge of Craig’s life of crime in pursuit of personal gain. And on April 28, 1987, he arranged to meet Craig to confront him.

But 10 minutes before the meeting was due to take place in the middle of the Shankill Road, Marchant was shot dead by the IRA. The Marchant File alleges that an RUC car was nearby.

A diary kept by British Military Intelligence agent Brian Nelson – who operated inside the UDA – reveals he too was aware of Craig’s collusion with the IRA and INLA.

It emerged that Craig tried to have a UDA hit team wiped out by informing the IRA of an imminent attack on one of its senior men in the Twinbrook estate.

A group of heavily armed IRA men were waiting on the arrival of the loyalists, but the murder bid was aborted when Nelson tipped off the UDA killer gang that Craig had set them up. John McMichael – “supreme commander” of the UDA and its flag of convenience the UFF – was incensed by the level of gangsterism inside his organisation and he vowed to expose it.

Before he got the chance, he was murdered by the IRA in a bomb attack on his car outside his Lisburn home, days before Christmas in 1987, after Craig persuaded the IRA to kill him.

Ten months later, Craig died in a hail of UFF bullets as he played pool in an east Belfast bar.