"The Committee"
The revived ULCCC was at the centre of controversy when Sean McPhilemy alleged that its members included Ulster Bank chief Billy Abernethy, Ulster Independence Movement leader Rev. Hugh Ross, Royal Ulster Constabulary member Trevor Forbes and other leading people in Northern Irish society who, he claimed, conspired with leading paramilitary figures such as Billy Wright and Robin Jackson to facilitate loyalist killings.
The full list of alleged members as claimed by McPhilemy in his book was as follows:
| Name | Position or job | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Billy Abernethy | Ulster Bank executive | ULCCC Chairman |
| Hugh Ross | Ulster Independence Movement leader | |
| Trevor Forbes OBE | Royal Ulster Constabulary Assistant Chief Constable | |
| James Sands | Ulster Independence Movement member | McPhilemy's main source of information |
| John McCullagh | Ulster Resistance representative | |
| Isobel McCulloch | ULCCC secretary | |
| Graham Long | Loyalist Paramilitary | Previously British Army |
| Nelson McCausland | Member of Belfast City Council | Subsequently Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure |
| David Prentice | Co-owner of car business | |
| Albert Prentice | Co-owner of car business | |
| Cecil Kilpatrick | Ulster Independence Movement member | |
| Lewis Singleton | Ulster Independence Movement member and solicitor | |
| Sammy Abraham | Businessman | |
| Will Davidson | Inner Force representative | |
| Alec Jamison | Inner Force representative | |
| Robin Jackson | Ulster Volunteer Force brigadier | |
| Billy Wright | Ulster Volunteer Force brigadier | |
| Dean McCullough | Ulster Volunteer Force member | |
| Alec Benson | Loyalist Retaliation and Defence Group member | Lisburn-based arm of the UVF |
| Ken Kerr | Ulster Defence Association brigadier | Source of evidence for McPhilemy |
| Ian Whittle | Inner Force representative |
The make-up of the group was largely based on evidence provided to McPhilemy by James Sands. An alternative composition of the Committee was provided by Ken Kerr although McPhilemy later determined his evidence to be fraudulent and dismissed it. Of those named by McPhilemy only Sands and Kerr acknowledged the existence of this version of the ULCCC.
The Inner Force referred to in the table was a supposed secret group within the Royal Ulster Constabulary that existed, under the command of Trevor Forbes, in order to deliver collusion in loyalist paramilitary killings. The existence of the Inner Force has also been strenuously denied by those named as having been involved.
Read more about this topic: Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee
Famous quotes containing the word committee:
“A committee is an animal with four back legs.”
—John le Carré (b. 1931)
“In America every woman has her set of girl-friends; some are cousins, the rest are gained at school. These form a permanent committee who sit on each other’s affairs, who “come out” together, marry and divorce together, and who end as those groups of bustling, heartless well-informed club-women who govern society. Against them the Couple of Ehepaar is helpless and Man in their eyes but a biological interlude.”
—Cyril Connolly (1903–1974)