Gusty Spence, one of the most famous hard men of the Northern Ireland conflict, started life in the 1930s in the tough Hammer district of Belfast's lower Shankill. After serving in Cyprus with the Royal Ulster Rifles during the EOKA campaign, he became leader of the Shankill Ulster Volunteer Force, a dormant paramilitary organization which was reactivated in 1965 in a climate of growing loyalist disquiet. In 1966 he was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years imprisonment for the murder of a Catholic barman, a charge he has ...
Read More
Gusty Spence, one of the most famous hard men of the Northern Ireland conflict, started life in the 1930s in the tough Hammer district of Belfast's lower Shankill. After serving in Cyprus with the Royal Ulster Rifles during the EOKA campaign, he became leader of the Shankill Ulster Volunteer Force, a dormant paramilitary organization which was reactivated in 1965 in a climate of growing loyalist disquiet. In 1966 he was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years imprisonment for the murder of a Catholic barman, a charge he has always denied. Among militant loyalists on the Shankill he became a local hero, and the focus of a long campaign which claimed that "his only crime was loyalty". In 1977, as UVF commander inside the Maze prison, he issued a message supporting reconciliation and attacking violence as counter-productive. Released in 1983, he devoted himself to community politics and became a key strategist with the Progressive Unionist Party, playing a significant role in the developing peace process. His central role in the process was underlined in 1994 at a Combined Loyalist Military Command press conference, when he announced a loyalist ceasefire, and offered "abject and true remorse" to "innocent" victims. As a close friend of Gusty Spence, Roy Garland has had access to a wealth of material and candid interviews. The result is this insight into one of the most influential figures of the Irish troubles.
Read Less
Add this copy of Gusty Spence to cart. $45.95, very good condition, Sold by George Lyon rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Alexandria, VA, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Blackstaff Press.
Add this copy of Gusty Spence to cart. $56.33, very good condition, Sold by The Maryland Book Bank rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from baltimore, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Blackstaff Press.
Add this copy of Gusty Spence to cart. $100.48, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by Blackstaff Pr.
