Book description
A cult figure among loyalists, despised and feared by nationalists,
Billy 'King Rat' Wright is reputed to have been involved in a number
of sectarian murders before he himself was shot dead by republican
gunmen inside the Maze
Prison in 1997.
Wright became involved with loyalist paramilitaries at the age of
16, and in the early 1990s he emerged as the UVF commander in the
Mid-Ulster area. The Billy Boy documents Wright's role in the Drumcree
dispute of 1995-96 and his split from the UVF, recounting how he
ignored both a death threat and an order to leave Northern Ireland,
only to remain in Portadown and form the Loyalist Volunteer Force. It
covers Wright's trial and subsequent imprisonment for a crime it has
been claimed was set up by the State; recounts the circumstances of
his killing inside a top-security prison; and investigates the
allegations of State collusion in Wright's death.
Terrifically gripping and often disturbing, The Billy Boy is
an exhaustive account of a notorious figure of the Troubles, whose
life and death were surrounded by controversy and political debate.
Chris Anderson is a freelance journalist and contributes to numerous
newspapers, including the
Irish Times
, the
Irish Independent
, the
Sunday Mirror
and the
Sunday Life
. He lives in Portadown.
