Maze Murder Report Says 'No Collusion'

Almost 13 years after the controversial killing, findings from the public inquiry into the murder of LVF leader Billy Wright inside the Maze prison have been released this afternoon.

The report into the murder of former leading loyalist Billy Wright has said there was no collusion between the authorities and the INLA gunmen.

However, the inquiry, which cost £30m and lasted five years, has strongly criticised security measures at the Maze Prison.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Owen Paterson said: "I am sincerely sorry that failings in the system facilitated this murder."

"However, responsibility for the murder lies with the INLA. I condemn their crimes absolutely."

He said the failings by the prison authorities were the result of "negligence" and were not intentional even though Billy Wright's father David had always believed that prison officials colluded to have Wright killed because he had posed a major threat to the peace process.

Wright was shot by INLA inmate Christopher McWilliams - a convicted murderer - on the morning of December 27, 1997 as he sat in a prison van on his way to the Maze visiting centre.

His killing immediately sparked controversy and questions were raised as to how terrorists could smuggle guns into what was supposedly one of Europe's most secure prisons.

The shooting took place in H-Block 6, where Wright's LVF loyalists occupied wings C and D opposite the INLA prisoners in wings A and B.

Several confidential reports since made public revealed that the decision to house the warring factions in adjacent wings of the prison was strongly opposed by prison officers.

In a sequence of security lapses, McWilliams and two other INLA prisoners managed to cut a hole in a security fence, make their way across the roof of the single-storey accommodation block and arrive undetected just in time to shoot the LVF leader before the prison van moved off.

An investigation by retired Canadian judge Peter Cory discovered that the visiting list for the day of the murder had been circulated to both factions, in breach of normal protocol, prior to the shooting.

Judge Cory's final report, published in April 2004, led to the Government's decision to announce a full inquiry into the circumstances of the killing.

The terms of reference for the Lord MacLean-led public inquiry were: "To inquire into the death of Billy Wright with a view to determining whether any wrongful act or omission by or within the prison authorities or other state agencies facilitated his death, or whether attempts were made to do so; whether any such act or omission was intentional or negligent; and to make recommendations."

(BMcC/KMcA)