:00:13. > :00:18.Tonight we seek to go behind the mask of the UVF. Almost 20 years
:00:19. > :00:29.after veteran UVF man Gusty Spence announced a cease-fire. We will
:00:30. > :00:37.cease all hostilities. Spotlight investigate an organisation that has
:00:38. > :00:43.murdered 27 people and intimidated its community. There is a tendency
:00:44. > :00:49.to dismiss this as criminality and not recognise it as politically
:00:50. > :00:54.motivated and a terrorist threat. We hear from UVF whistle-blower how the
:00:55. > :01:03.UVF forced the men to attend parades. We ask is enough being done
:01:04. > :01:08.by the police? We cannot see any tangible sign that they are moving
:01:09. > :01:12.against these individuals. We hear from a woman who says the UVF are
:01:13. > :01:16.being given positions of responsibility in the community
:01:17. > :01:21.while continuing their criminality. It is like the Mafia stop the Will
:01:22. > :01:28.bear is to pay them and keep them quiet. -- the will of the year is to
:01:29. > :01:57.pay them and keep them quiet. The brutal shooting of our young
:01:58. > :02:01.woman in East Belfast. Gemma McGrath, a 24-year-old care worker,
:02:02. > :02:07.is shot more than eight times, wounded in the legs and abdomen. She
:02:08. > :02:12.survives, but the attack sends shock and fear through this loyalist
:02:13. > :02:18.community. It was horrific. It was barbaric. The idea that the takes a
:02:19. > :02:26.strong man to take a gun and shoot her in any way furthers any cause is
:02:27. > :02:29.an abhorrent one. The PSNI is cheating the shooting as attempted
:02:30. > :02:34.murder. The motive remains unclear. Rumours spread that it was connected
:02:35. > :02:43.to drugs. Those close to Gemma McGrath rejects this. Police have
:02:44. > :02:49.not said who is responsible. Police think the UVF shot Gemma McGrath. I
:02:50. > :02:54.am told that is based on an intelligence assessments. I am also
:02:55. > :03:00.told that there was another shooting a few days earlier. Both those
:03:01. > :03:04.shootings are linked to the UVF. These attacks are the latest in a
:03:05. > :03:09.string of incidents in the east of the city over the last year went to
:03:10. > :03:17.the UVF. These include street disorder, attempts to kill police
:03:18. > :03:23.officer 's, and the unveiling of new paramilitary murals. East Belfast
:03:24. > :03:27.has come to be regarded as the most dangerous battalion of the UVF.
:03:28. > :03:32.Tonight we learn more about this secretive UVF gang from a source
:03:33. > :03:38.within the loyalist community who agreed to speak to us anonymously.
:03:39. > :03:43.If he spoke on Canada he believed he would be shot, so we have called him
:03:44. > :03:50.job, and his words are spoken by an actor. The UVF fink East Belfast is
:03:51. > :03:59.theirs. They have built an empire. They are out of control. One of the
:04:00. > :04:02.characteristics of them is their reputation and propensity for
:04:03. > :04:07.violence. That has been demonstrated through the years by murderers and
:04:08. > :04:14.attacks on their own community. They also get involved in violence at
:04:15. > :04:19.interfaces. Our source says that the UVF in East Belfast uses alias
:04:20. > :04:22.connections to bring in drugs. In East Belfast if you look at the
:04:23. > :04:30.crimes being committed, cigarette lorries being hurt, businesses being
:04:31. > :04:33.robbed, there are common threads. There are common names being
:04:34. > :04:39.arrested and convicted. They are connected with the UVF. That network
:04:40. > :04:45.helps distribute drugs in the community stop the UVF has become a
:04:46. > :04:50.criminal enterprise. Led by criminals lining their pockets. It
:04:51. > :04:54.is not about defending Ulster. They have a coherence which is different
:04:55. > :05:00.from an organised crime group. They are a difficult targets to operate
:05:01. > :05:07.against. John says others, including the UDA at involved in drugs in East
:05:08. > :05:19.Belfast, but he insists the vast majority of drugs are brought in by
:05:20. > :05:25.the UVF or controlled by them. They would pay a certain amount each
:05:26. > :05:27.month to a paramilitary organisation or they will be the UVF as a
:05:28. > :05:38.punishment. Spotlight has been given numerous
:05:39. > :05:44.examples of threats and intimidation in East Belfast and elsewhere. UVF
:05:45. > :05:47.criminal activity is nothing new, but the extent of it is. It is a
:05:48. > :05:53.serious consequence of the drugs trade in particular that is raising
:05:54. > :05:57.concern. Alex Bunting works with the victims
:05:58. > :06:03.of drug abuse. He did not want to talk about the UVF, but did explain
:06:04. > :06:07.the misery he is seeing in East Belfast. Families have had to take
:06:08. > :06:08.out a day loans. They have had to sell furniture, sell jewellery,
:06:09. > :06:15.out a day loans. They have had to things like that. It is terrible.
:06:16. > :06:20.Some drug dealers pulled to the front door of the parents and tell
:06:21. > :06:31.them that their son or daughter owes money. That drives the family into
:06:32. > :06:36.despair. It is not uncommon for the pressures that drug dealers place on
:06:37. > :06:43.drug users to push them towards suicide. A spate of drug deaths hit
:06:44. > :06:48.East Belfast earlier this year. Spotlight understands two of those
:06:49. > :07:00.who died had links to the UVF. Including this man, Alio McKenzie, a
:07:01. > :07:07.close friend of Gemma McGrath. The family denies there is a link to
:07:08. > :07:11.drugs, but it is understood she was under threat and left the area
:07:12. > :07:23.during the summer. A decision to retire and almost cost her life. --
:07:24. > :07:35.to the turn. Loyalists commemorating deformation
:07:36. > :07:43.of the original UVF in 1913. -- the formation.
:07:44. > :07:50.Loyalist Winston Irving says it is purely commemorative. There is no
:07:51. > :07:54.paraphernalia which would represent any contemporary conflict. This is
:07:55. > :08:02.about remembering a very important aspect of history. During the
:08:03. > :08:12.Troubles the UVF and the Red Hand Commando were linked to 500 murders.
:08:13. > :08:16.While it has been on cease-fire since 1994 it remains an illegal
:08:17. > :08:30.organisation. It did the Commission but did not fulfil a promise to
:08:31. > :08:34.disband. -- it did decommission. This man has helped to negotiate
:08:35. > :08:39.cease-fires. He says there is evidence the organisation is
:08:40. > :08:44.recruiting a game. They are recruiting not for any military
:08:45. > :08:49.purpose, but into the bands and so on. That at the same time that seems
:08:50. > :08:53.to contradict the idea of stepping to contradict the idea of stepping
:08:54. > :08:58.down the UVF. It cannot be doing two things. It cannot be seeing it. Down
:08:59. > :09:06.the UVF as a military organisation but still recruit young men in, and
:09:07. > :09:12.those young men being recruited and will have some expect nations.
:09:13. > :09:17.Spotlight has spoken to a whistle-blower, then the ranks of
:09:18. > :09:21.the UVF itself who says it is recruiting. To protect his identity
:09:22. > :09:29.we have used an actor to reconstruct his interview. We have called him
:09:30. > :09:37.Jim. At the UVF still recruiting? Yes. Parades, protests. It is a drip
:09:38. > :09:42.feed over years. There are new faces at the Brian Robinson Parade.
:09:43. > :09:48.Parades in honour of dead members like this one for Brian Robinson are
:09:49. > :09:53.also viewed as UVF shows of strength. But according to other UVF
:09:54. > :09:56.source is the size of the parades can be misleading.
:09:57. > :10:01.You have told me you were forced to go on UVF parades. We did not show
:10:02. > :10:14.we would get a fine of ?50, or a beating. You had no option but to
:10:15. > :10:17.show. Guys were forced to miss work. Astonishingly Jim also claims that
:10:18. > :10:23.many members want to leave the UVF that are not allowed to. The going
:10:24. > :10:29.rate to buy yourselves out is ?3000. Hang the parades and pageantry, he
:10:30. > :10:34.says some UVF leaders are desperately trying to ensure the
:10:35. > :10:41.organisation remains intact. -- behind the parades and pageantry.
:10:42. > :10:47.Since the cease-fire it has killed 27 people from the loyalist
:10:48. > :10:54.community. The last killing was of a member of the Red Hand Commando in
:10:55. > :11:02.2010. At that time this woman spoke to Spotlight about intimidation in
:11:03. > :11:08.the area. If you live within these areas these guys still have control.
:11:09. > :11:12.The UVF has not murdered anyone since Bobby Moffatt so has the
:11:13. > :11:31.situation changed? No, I would say it has got worse. People are so
:11:32. > :11:33.frightened to speak out. UVF threatened beatings continue. Some
:11:34. > :11:41.victims are forced to leave the area. Do you know people up in
:11:42. > :11:47.Excel? Yes, I do. How common is that? The XL would be quite common.
:11:48. > :12:02.Not out of the country, but that of the area. What is not always like
:12:03. > :12:09.that? No it was not. This person is a UVF victim to. Her
:12:10. > :12:13.nephew, Craig McCausland, was shot dead by the group in 2005 stop no
:12:14. > :12:20.one has ever been caught for the killing. She is one of the very few
:12:21. > :12:28.who will still speak out against the activities of the UVF.
:12:29. > :12:32.Are you afraid that by speaking out you could put yourself in a
:12:33. > :12:43.vulnerable position? I am aware of that. But I feel that... I will not
:12:44. > :12:49.let them stop me. I feel I owe it to Craig and his mum to speak out. It
:12:50. > :12:56.is the only way I have of trying to get some sort of justice for them.
:12:57. > :12:59.In East Belfast, the Alliance MP Naomi Long has lived with a death
:13:00. > :13:04.threat from the UVF for nearly a year. Three weeks ago her office was
:13:05. > :13:09.targeted in a bomb alert. She says she has seen a rise in the number of
:13:10. > :13:18.people coming to her living with intimidation, usually from the UVF.
:13:19. > :13:20.We have had people who have received threats, because they have for
:13:21. > :13:23.example had a dispute with a neighbour over a trivial issue. But
:13:24. > :13:28.that Labour has connections. They find themselves being intimidated in
:13:29. > :13:33.their home. We have business will who come to us and say they cannot
:13:34. > :13:39.do their business because their staff are being intimidated or they
:13:40. > :13:42.are being intimidated. Former Lord Mayor of Belfast, Gavin Robinson,
:13:43. > :13:47.says there are schools of people in the area under threat. He describes
:13:48. > :13:52.the climate of fear which is created by all sorts of intimidation, and
:13:53. > :13:57.not just incidents like the shooting of Gemma McGrath. Individuals are
:13:58. > :14:02.having to deal with this day in, day out and they know people could
:14:03. > :14:06.strike at any time, they know people are holding a grip and want to
:14:07. > :14:13.maintain their grip on our community in such a dangerous and destructive
:14:14. > :14:17.way. One way the UVF stamps its authority on the community is with
:14:18. > :14:23.its paramilitary murals which compete for space with cultural
:14:24. > :14:31.murals. A painting celebrating George Best replaced a UVF mural.
:14:32. > :14:36.Last month, it was painted over with something more sinister. There has
:14:37. > :14:42.been a lot of talk and publicity about the new UVF mural here in
:14:43. > :14:47.Sydenham. From people I have spoken to it is obviously having a negative
:14:48. > :14:50.impact on the community. But as soon as the paramilitary word is
:14:51. > :14:56.mentioned, people find it very difficult to talk. Terry Hoey has
:14:57. > :15:02.lived in East Belfast all his life. He did not want to discuss the UVF
:15:03. > :15:07.but he admits the new mural has led to a feeling of decline in the area.
:15:08. > :15:13.I look at this area and it is not what it was. Whether it is because
:15:14. > :15:18.of fear, it seems all the work that has been done, all the good work
:15:19. > :15:23.that has been done has been undone. You do get worried that it is going
:15:24. > :15:28.to go back to the way it used to be. I hope it never goes back like
:15:29. > :15:34.that and I don't think it will. I would love them just to put the
:15:35. > :15:40.George Best mural back again but I know they are not going to do that!
:15:41. > :15:45.The appearance of dozens of sinister looking men at the unveiling of the
:15:46. > :15:51.mural in September led to frightened calls to the Alliance party office.
:15:52. > :15:57.There is an issue about perception, while the UVF is able to exert
:15:58. > :16:01.influence and control of the community, the fact that there is no
:16:02. > :16:06.intervention creates a perception that the police are either not able
:16:07. > :16:14.or not confident in being able to deal with those issues. Some victims
:16:15. > :16:20.-- someone victims have been able to turn to is this man, Raymond McCord.
:16:21. > :16:25.His son was murdered by the UVF in 1987. Over the years he has dealt
:16:26. > :16:33.with hundreds of UVF victims. Mothers and fathers sitting at the
:16:34. > :16:39.table crying. People did not want to know, it is too dangerous to speak
:16:40. > :16:49.to the sort of people they are told. During this programme I have heard
:16:50. > :16:53.from a dozen people who are too scared to talk to the police about
:16:54. > :16:57.the intimidation they are suffering. In virtually all have expressed a
:16:58. > :17:01.lack of trust in the police or no confidence that they will take
:17:02. > :17:06.perception, right or wrong, is that perception, right or wrong, is that
:17:07. > :17:12.the police have turned a blind eye to a lot of UVF activity or not
:17:13. > :17:17.fully confronted it. I push these issues with police and I cannot see
:17:18. > :17:20.a need tangible sign that they are moving against these individuals. It
:17:21. > :17:27.is not good enough that these people feel they no longer have recourse
:17:28. > :17:32.with the PSNI. In a bid to keep the peace, police talk to UVF community
:17:33. > :17:39.workers to try to prevent scenes like this in January. Naomi Long
:17:40. > :17:43.warns this is further undermining confidence in the police. If they
:17:44. > :17:45.see the police talking to some of these individuals, who are the cause
:17:46. > :17:48.see the police talking to some of of their fear, and they are
:17:49. > :17:52.therefore worried that by sharing that information with the police,
:17:53. > :17:59.they may make themselves more vulnerable. I have no evidence that
:18:00. > :18:03.that is the case but I understand why that does not reassure many of
:18:04. > :18:10.my constituents, who are fearful that that relationship is to close.
:18:11. > :18:14.It is proper that we do engage in conversations, that we tell people
:18:15. > :18:19.what is going on with the perception that this allows people to have a
:18:20. > :18:25.free hand is completely wrong. The PSNI says it is tackling the UVF in
:18:26. > :18:29.East Belfast and points out the convictions of the group's members
:18:30. > :18:35.are usually for ordinary crime and so not reported as UVF activity.
:18:36. > :18:39.But it is not just over policing that the UVF is perceived to have
:18:40. > :18:44.some official role in the community. Our source John says trees have
:18:45. > :18:48.forcefully taken over community groups and have cosy relations with
:18:49. > :18:53.hall editions and churchmen. He claims they are crowding out
:18:54. > :19:00.ordinary people who are being silenced. At every level,
:19:01. > :19:04.paramilitary organisations have influenced from the grassroots up.
:19:05. > :19:10.If you are a member of the community in East Belfast, and you are part of
:19:11. > :19:19.a group which focuses on community safe safety audit district
:19:20. > :19:28.policing, and you go to a meeting and see a paramilitary sitting
:19:29. > :19:33.around a table. This is the public face of Winston Winkie Irvine. Here
:19:34. > :19:38.he is at the parades stand-off sharing the platform with the Orange
:19:39. > :19:41.order. Orange man Billy Mawhinney threatens a campaign of civil
:19:42. > :19:46.disobedience unless the 12th of March is allowed to complete its
:19:47. > :19:51.journey home. Here he is speaking about a dissident pipe on attack
:19:52. > :19:57.earlier this year. There are people who are still intent to use violence
:19:58. > :20:01.and bombs to try and pursue up political agenda. He also has a
:20:02. > :20:06.variety of positions on community organisations, many of which entail
:20:07. > :20:11.him working closely with the PSNI. He appears to be a pillar of the
:20:12. > :20:16.Loyalist community. But Cathy McIlvenny says she believes Mr
:20:17. > :20:22.Irvine also have another role. He is a commander of the UVF. Cathy says
:20:23. > :20:28.she first came to know of Mr Irvine's role in the UVF because she
:20:29. > :20:34.dealt with him as the UVF man who ordered a punishment shooting of her
:20:35. > :20:38.nephew Craig in 2000 two. He came into my home as a UVF representative
:20:39. > :20:46.and I knew they were taking Craig out to shoot him. Spotlight has
:20:47. > :20:55.spoken to a dozen people who have also told us they know Mr Irvine is
:20:56. > :21:06.a senior UVF man. Including our whistle-blower Jim. Winkie Irvine is
:21:07. > :21:10.commander of the company. It turns my stomach to see him as the PU P
:21:11. > :21:16.spokesman because I know what history he has. Jim recalls him at a
:21:17. > :21:22.meeting shortly after the murder of Bobby Moffat in 2010. He says
:21:23. > :21:31.rumours that they were being stood down were quickly quashed by Winkie
:21:32. > :21:38.Irvine. We were going to get our P 45s. We were going to be let go.
:21:39. > :21:42.That was quickly put to bed. What happened at that meeting? The next
:21:43. > :21:46.thing that happened is the be company commander got on the stage
:21:47. > :21:53.and said, you think you are here for your pipe and slippers, you are not.
:21:54. > :21:59.What you take that to mean? No one is going anywhere. The allocation
:22:00. > :22:03.that Irvine is the commander of the company has been frequently
:22:04. > :22:09.reported. Nevertheless, he was appointed to the releasing
:22:10. > :22:14.partnership, an appointment Cathy McIlvenny objects to. To me,
:22:15. > :22:21.policing partnership should not have a paramilitary sitting on it. The
:22:22. > :22:25.ordinary person on the street cannot complain because you're going to the
:22:26. > :22:30.paramilitary is to complain. Cathy has complained to the policing board
:22:31. > :22:33.about that appointment. She wants to know how the man was allowed on the
:22:34. > :22:41.partnership because all appointments are vetted by the police. The answer
:22:42. > :22:45.to that is they sign an oath not to take part in criminality or
:22:46. > :22:52.paramilitary activity and they did not promote by deed or action any
:22:53. > :22:55.paramilitary group. The police a vetting the membership of policing
:22:56. > :23:02.partnerships is not a matter for them. The police and community
:23:03. > :23:07.safety partnerships are one of the bodies that the policing board has a
:23:08. > :23:10.direct responsibility for. The police service did not have
:23:11. > :23:19.responsibility for either the formation the running of those.
:23:20. > :23:23.Obviously, we attend but it belongs to the policing board. The policing
:23:24. > :23:27.board said independent members of the partnerships are pointed in line
:23:28. > :23:32.with the Justice code of practice. As the policing partnership member,
:23:33. > :23:41.Mr Irvine is pledged not to support by word or deed any terrorist
:23:42. > :23:46.organisation. Yet, Cathy McIlvenny and our whistle-blower are adamant
:23:47. > :23:50.that he is commander of a UVF company which is still active and
:23:51. > :23:57.still recruiting members. Since his appointment last year, he has
:23:58. > :24:00.attended UVF parades and this Alston covenant commemoration, in the
:24:01. > :24:07.company of individuals widely reported to be senior UVF figures.
:24:08. > :24:11.Here he is at those celebrations. He says these are historical
:24:12. > :24:17.commemorations but he is leading a group of Shankill men and beside him
:24:18. > :24:25.two men who are regularly reported to be senior UVF commanders, Joe
:24:26. > :24:29.McCaw and Harry Stockman. Spotlight wrote to Irvine, Stockman and
:24:30. > :24:34.McCaw, along with a close associate, this man, John Bunter
:24:35. > :24:39.Graham who has been reported on many occasions to be the leader of the
:24:40. > :24:44.UVF. In solicitors' letters to the BBC, all four men deny ever being
:24:45. > :24:49.UVF members. In his letter Mr Irvine said, the allegation that he is a
:24:50. > :24:54.company commander is proposed us. He said he had never been a member of
:24:55. > :25:01.an illegal organisation. But that claim is at odds with this
:25:02. > :25:08.photograph of him in the early 1990s, or walking in a UVF colour
:25:09. > :25:12.party. In his left hand he is carrying a wreath on behalf of the
:25:13. > :25:17.UVF. Indeed, allegations of the role of all of these men in the UVF have
:25:18. > :25:24.been well documented in reports over several years. Harry stop and is
:25:25. > :25:30.seen here at the announcement of UVF decommissioning in 2009 -- Harry
:25:31. > :25:33.Stockman. It is reported he read the organisation's disarmament
:25:34. > :25:38.statement. This is John Bunter Graham, in a picture from the 1970s,
:25:39. > :25:43.with his fellow members of the UVF in the Shankhill. Along with him is
:25:44. > :25:51.the infamous Shankhill Butcher Lenny Murphy. Spotlight has a sworn
:25:52. > :25:59.affidavit from a former detective who says he has long known Graham,
:26:00. > :26:01.Stockman and McCaw as UVF men and we have two affidavits from individuals
:26:02. > :26:07.prepared to name Irvine as a UVF commander. For Cathy, Winston Irvine
:26:08. > :26:11.is a prime example of how someone she believes to be a paramilitary is
:26:12. > :26:14.allowed officially sanctioned power and influence in the community while
:26:15. > :26:20.she says continuing to be a UVF and influence in the community while
:26:21. > :26:23.leader. It is like the Mafia. There is no will to bring these guys
:26:24. > :26:32.down. The will is to pay them to keep quiet and make it look like on
:26:33. > :26:35.the surface that everyone is living in peace. The ordinary people still
:26:36. > :26:39.respect the police and law and order. What they do not respect is a
:26:40. > :26:44.cover-up. They do not respect the UVF being treated on a par with
:26:45. > :26:48.politicians because they know the paramilitary 's are still the
:26:49. > :26:53.criminal elements which are running crime in their area. Over the last
:26:54. > :26:58.12 months, the UVF leaders who were supposed to have gone away have not
:26:59. > :27:01.just being a policing and community issue but a political problem as
:27:02. > :27:05.well. Increasingly, they have brought their politics to the
:27:06. > :27:11.street, with a declaration of intent on the first night of the flags
:27:12. > :27:15.protest which began at City Hall. They did hijack the flags protest. I
:27:16. > :27:20.was there on the night of December the 3rd. The impact of the protests
:27:21. > :27:25.and the trouble that followed was immense. Belfast traders lost over
:27:26. > :27:31.?50 million and the policing bill topped ?22 million. Once again, East
:27:32. > :27:38.Belfast UVF were named as prime movers in the trouble. Senior
:27:39. > :27:42.members of the UVF in east Belfast have been increasingly orchestrating
:27:43. > :27:46.some of this violence, not with the collective endorsement of the UVF
:27:47. > :27:54.per se. While the flags protests have died down, the focus has turned
:27:55. > :27:58.to parades. Our source inside the UVF says his experience is the UVF
:27:59. > :28:05.as an organisation is involved in flags and parades protests, at times
:28:06. > :28:12.ordering members to take part. It is common knowledge they force people
:28:13. > :28:16.to go. They do not have a choice. I have personally seen guys that flag
:28:17. > :28:22.protests who for a long time want out of the UVF. For them to be at
:28:23. > :28:28.the flags protest, it was bizarre as to why they would be there. The
:28:29. > :28:35.group Raymond McCord setup to help victims has closed down, due to lack
:28:36. > :28:38.of funding. Meanwhile, the UVF continue to terrorise Loyalist
:28:39. > :28:44.communities. More people will die, more people will lose their homes,
:28:45. > :28:48.more young people will beaten. It will not stop. People are very
:28:49. > :28:53.nervous and very uncertain about the future and what the role of the UVF
:28:54. > :28:57.can be in the future. If they want to move forward and be productive
:28:58. > :29:03.members of society, they do it on the basis that everyone else does it
:29:04. > :29:08.and that is as an individual, with no records to violence. Unless that
:29:09. > :29:14.line is very clearly drawn, I think we have serious problems going
:29:15. > :29:18.forward. Two decades after the UVF leadership told us the union is
:29:19. > :29:25.safe, the question must be asked, safe for whom?