The UDR – State Supported Terrorists – by Michael Lagan

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The UDR, the Ulster Defence Regiment, was initially a standard infantry unit established in April 1970 to support the RUC in ‘policing’ the North.  It’s actually quite ironic that when one researches the UDR, 3 other separate entities show up with so much frequency that one could be forgiven for thinking they were all one and the same.  Those 3 other entities are the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the Ulster Defence Association and the Ulster Volunteer Force.  

Rising from the ashes of the sectarian and murderous B-Specials, the UDR was all at once just as bad and at times worse than the Specials, owing to the fact that many who were ousted from the B-Specials when it was disbanded in March 1970, joined the UDR on the 1st of April 1970, almost as if it were the same force under a different name…but more heavily armed.  The sectarian nature of the UDR came into sharp focus as the list of murders, attempted murders and conspiracies to murder went through the roof in the 1970s, 80s and 90s despite name changes and attempts by British army top brass to clean up the regiment which in all but name was nothing more than a Loyalist militia.  Indeed the handing over of information and intelligence to Loyalist terrorists by UDR members was a routine occurrence in the North with many murders carried out by Loyalists being made possible by information from the UDR and RUC.

The UDR was so heavily infiltrated by Loyalist terrorists that the British army was accused of a ’cover up’ after it was disclosed that it had withheld evidence for more than three decades revealing that UDR units were being used to finance and support the UVF in Belfast, with at least 70 soldiers on one base linked to the Loyalist terror group.  Indeed senior Army officers, as far up the chain as Whitehall, feared that those 70 soldiers in the Belfast Battalion of the UDR were linked to the UVF in West Belfast, including one member of the notorious Shankill Butchers gang.  

One UDR unit was suspected of siphoning off £47,000 to the UVF while UDR equipment including firearms was regularly stolen from another unit to support the Loyalist terror group in its murderous operations.  Investigators estimated the fraud amount to sums of between £30,000 and £47,000 – the equivalent of up to £200,000 in 2011.  A female clerk told SIB investigators (the army’s investigation team) that an unnamed UDR soldier had ordered her to hand over £300 each month to the UVF or her daughter would be targeted for death.  One top-secret document stated that UVF members were regularly permitted to socialise at Girdwood barracks with the ‘collusion investigation’ being suspended when a senior UDR officer claimed it was damaging morale within the regiment.  So much for heroes eh?

The top-secret documents show that army senior chiefs took a deliberate decision to cover up evidence exposing the fact that the UDR had been seriously compromised by the UVF.  One extract of this top-secret document states – “Interviews of members of 10 UDR have revealed that many members of the Battalion have links with Loyalist paramilitaries.  Early indications are that 15 men have been involved over a period of years, about 30 have less extensive connections and a further 20-30 have slight connections.  Members of Loyalist paramilitary groups not serving with the UDR have improperly been given access to UDR clubs and messes.”

Another secret briefing paper to senior army generals states – “there is a good indication that a large percentage of funds have been going to the UVF.”  It goes on to state that UDR battalions were literally financial and supply support for not only the UVF but other Loyalist paramilitary organisations.  It was also found that armoury keys and accounting information were openly available to known UVF members who regularly used UDR stores and weapons for terrorist operations.  UDR senior officers and British army generals knowingly turned a blind eye to the fraud and terrorist intentions of their subordinates for fear that UDR soldiers could mutiny.  

The fact that the UDR, the largest regiment in the British army was at best the finance wing of Loyalist terrorism and at worst both the armourer and intelligence wing of Loyalist terrorists is a damning indictment which sheds a very bright light on the collusion that went on between the British Government, the British military and Loyalist terrorism.  That the British state was aware of collusion between the British military and Loyalist terrorists from the early 70s, if not sooner shows simply and undeniably that the British Government knew collusion was rife within the UDR and Loyalism.  Reference to the theft of a rifle from the UDR on September the 2nd, 1971, appears in a note about weapons losses forwarded, in 1972, to the office of a British under-secretary of state. That, dear readers, is ministerial level. Internal British Army documents throughout the 1970s used the word ‘collusion’ routinely and regularly and repeatedly in secret memos regarding the UDR, Loyalist paramilitaries and the RUC.

Indeed, while Robert Nairac was christened Robert Laurence Nairac, he was known to the UDR as Charlie McDonald and helped set up numerous ambushes and hits on what we know now were innocent people, mostly Catholic and with little or no connection to Republicanism.  One UDR soldier who was acquainted with Nairac said – “I first saw Bob Nairac when he arrived at my home near Portadown, parked his car in the drive, walked up to the front door and introduced himself as Captain Charlie McDonald. He said he was based at Castledillon.”  The UDR soldier claims even then Nairac was extremely interested in people like Robin Jackson, known as ‘the Jackel’ from Lurgan and the likes of Billy Hanna…all of whom we know became leaders in the Glenanne Gang who murdered over 120 innocent people and who, it is clear now, was aided by intelligence, weapons and explosives from the UDR and British intelligence.

So these so-called heroes, these people who supposedly put their lives on the line to protect us and keep us safe were in actuality terrorists.   The 2012 de Silva report into the murder of human rights solicitor Pat Finucane, concluded that 85 per cent “of all the information acted upon by Loyalist paramilitaries came directly from the security forces”.

It also stated that – “Government ministers and senior generals were well aware that the UDR served as a safety valve for Loyalist paramilitaries.”  So the government knew everything, they knew the UDR were up to their necks in collusion, they knew the UDR was essentially and by all intents and purposes a legal Loyalist terrorist organisation and not only was it working hand in hand with British intelligence, it was also working hand in hand with the RUC.

The UDR was a state-supported terrorist organisation, operating in plain sight, using British weapons and targeting innocent people with information from British intelligence and Special Branch.  These weren’t heroes…they were simply murderers in the employ of the British state.

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