Shooting Death
Gray was shot five times in the back and killed outside his father's house in east Belfast's loyalist Clarawood estate (a small housing estate close to the loyalist Braniel and the middle class Cherryvalley areas) on 4 October 2005, by two unknown gunmen. The shooting took place at 20.00 while he was unloading weight-lifting equipment from the boot of his silver Mini Cooper. As his body lay on the front lawn, local people took photos and passed the news to others via their mobile phones. According to Gray's father his son had left the house after Gary Matthews arrived to give him a set of weights and cigarettes that he had bought for Gray in Spain. Shots rang out and when Gray's father went out to see what had happened he found his son had been shot and Matthews was ringing for an ambulance. The involvement of other loyalist factions was suspected, fuelling speculation that he was murdered to prevent him making an agreement with the police to expose his former associates in the UDA. Six people were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the murder, including Gary Matthews, his cousin Steven, Gray's unnamed replacement as East Belfast brigadier and William Murphy, a close friend who was widely rumoured to have been his lover. Ultimately however no charges were brought with the investigating officer, Detective Inspector Deborah McMaster, admitting at Gray's inquest in 2007 that the police had largely given up on securing any convictions due to a lack of evidence.
East Belfast MP Peter Robinson (since 2008 First Minister of Northern Ireland) stated after Gray's killing that "there was no excuse for the murder". Fellow UDA member and former friend, Michael Stone claimed that Gray had told him he was a businessman rather than a loyalist, as loyalism did not pay the bills.
Unlike most brigadiers, he was not given an extravagant paramilitary funeral, complete with volleys of gunfire fired over the coffin; instead it was a private affair, attended by a small group of just 14 mourners. As a further sign of his unpopularity amongst loyalists, a street disco was held in east Belfast to celebrate his death. Gray's effigy, with a curtain ring representing his trademark single gold earring, was thrown upon a bonfire. In lieu of murals dedicated to his memory, there is only graffiti scrawled on an east Belfast wall which reads: "Jim Gray RIP - Rest in Pink". Meanwhile Gray's estate was frozen by the Assets Recovery Agency as part of an investigation into his criminality.
Read more about this topic: Jim Gray (UDA Member)
Famous quotes containing the words shooting and/or death:
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