Ray Smallwoods - Ulster Defence Association

Ulster Defence Association

Smallwoods was a native of Lisburn and as such was a member of the UDA's South Belfast brigade, which also covered the nearby town. In late 1979 John McMichael, a leading figure in the UDA and also a Lisburn native, set up a commando structure within the UDA and drew up a "shopping list" of leading targets for this group to kill. Amongst the names on the list killed were Irish Independence Party member John Turnley, Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) prisoners representative Miriam Daly and INLA and Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) activists Ronnie Bunting and Noel Lyttle. On 14 January 1981 Smallwoods, an associate of McMichael, was amongst those in attendance at a meeting above McMichael's pub in which it was decided that the next target would be former Irish republican politician Bernadette McAliskey. According to Sammy Duddy Smallwoods was one of only nine men that McMichael used for these operations. Smallwoods and McMichael were close personally as well as professionally and both men and their families holidayed together on the Isle of Man.

On 16 January 1981 Smallwoods was involved in the shooting attack on the Coalisland home of McAliskey in which she was shot seven times and her husband four times, and both seriously wounded. However at the time their house was being watched by a unit of the 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment resulting in the attackers all being arrested as they left the scene. Smallwoods had not personally fired any shots but had rather been the driver of the getaway car. He was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for his involvement. Following the arrests of McMichael's commando team and the leaking of the list to the press by his rival Tommy Lyttle the shopping list was abandoned.