Loyalist terrorist Billy “King Rat” Wright was identified to gardai as the gunman who tried to kill INLA boss Dominic McGlinchey – but was never charged, it has emerged.
“I identify this man as the man who tried to shoot Dominic,” a witness told gardai when he looked at a photograph of infamous killer Wright following the failed murder bid in Ardee, Co Louth at the height of the troubles.
Now, McGlinchey’s son Dominic Og is suing gardai over that investigation and the probe into his father’s murder in another part of Louth just under a year later.
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Mr McGlinchey (45) wants the High Court in Dublin to rule that gardai have not properly investigated the attempt on his father’s life in Ardee in June 1993 and his murder in Drogheda in February 1994
And, in legal documentation seen by The Star/Mirror, Mr McGlinchey is claiming UVF leader Wright – one of the north’s worst serial killers – was an RUC agent at the time of the attack.
“The Applicant and his family believed that Billy Wright was either an agent of the RUC special branch and/or acting in collusion with the RUC special branch and their “shoot to kill” policy to
unlawfully kill the Applicant’s father on the 12th day of June 1993,” Mr McGlinchey’s solicitor Ciaran Mulholland says in an application requesting a judicial review of the Garda investigations.
Mr Mulholland, who is based in Dundalk Co Louth and is a well-known human rights lawyer, has now lodged High Court papers which also ask for judges to order gardai to carry out a full probe into both incidents.
McGlinchey (40) was leader of the feared INLA during the troubles – and was regarded as one of the most dangerous terrorists in the whole of Ireland, He claimed to have murdered 31 people.
He was nicknamed Mad Dog because of his fearsome reputation for violence – and apparent disregard for his own safety. His public image made him a target for cops on both sides of the border – and also for loyalist terrorists.
He was released from Portlaoise Prison in Co Laois in March 1993 after serving a 10-year jail term for firearms offences – and within months survived a loyalist murder bid.
He was attacked as he sat in car outside a friend’s house in Ardee – and documentation obtained by The Star/Mirror now can show for the first time that a witness identified loyalist killer Billy Wright – who killed more than 20 people as leader of the Mid Ulster UVF in the 1980s and 1990s - as the gunman.
McGlinchey was shot at from a few feet and one bullet grazed his head, but he attacked the gunman and made the would-be killer flee the area.
Now, we have obtained a witness statement in which a woman who watched the attempted murder confirms to Garda detectives probing the Ardee attack that the shooter was Billy Wright.
The woman made a previous statement in which she said how McGlinchey fought the gunman – and told him not to shoot kids who were in the car.
She says in her second statement: “I remember the 12th June, 1993, on that date I was a passenger in the front seat of Dominic McGlinchey’s car,
“Dominic driving. We pulled into the driveway of [a named man’s] house. As Dominic was getting out of his car a man tried to shoot him. I have already made a statement to the gardai about this.”
She then says that she was shown 55 mugshots by gardai and identified number 33 as the gunman – whom we have established was Billy Wright.
She says: “On this date, the 21st day of August 1993, I have been shown an album of photographs, consisting of 55 photographs.
“I have been asked by the detective to look carefully at the photographs to see if I can identify the person who attacked Dominic. I looked at the photographs and I picked out the photograph number 33.
“I identify this man as the man who tried to shoot Dominic at [the man’s] house on the 12th June 1993. He was the man who ran into the driveway and attacked Dominic. I had a good look at this man while he was fighting with Dominic.”
Despite that identification, Wright (37) – who was himself murdered in prison by the INLA in 1997 after he was locked up on terror charges – was never arrested or charged over the murder bid.
Nobody has ever been charged over the murder of McGlinchey, who was shot dead in front of Dominic Og at a phone box in Drogheda in 1994.
As well as losing his father, Dominic Og McGlinchey suffered the murder of his mother Mary, who was shot dead as she bathed him and his brother Declan in their Dundalk home in February 1987.
Mr Mulholland is also taking action to have her inquest reopened. Her initial inquest in 1988 gave a narrative finding in line with the medical evidence that she died from a laceration to the brain and bullet wounds to the head, neck and chest.
Mr Mulholland wants a new inquest to rule that she was unlawfully killed. He told us last night: "To say I am disappointed with the conduct of An Garda Siochana would be a serious understatement.
"Every attempt seeking assistance and clarification from local Gardaí and the Garda Commissioner arising from two of the most infamous murders South of the border during the course of the Troubles has been ignored - murders carried out in the presence of the deceased children.
"In the case of Dominic Snr we know there was an earlier failed assassination attempt on his life in Ardee months earlier by Loyalists whereby several witnesses to include Dominic Snr identified the gunman as the Loyalist and suspected RUC Special Branch Agent Billy Wright, yet never was there any efforts by Gardaí to follow this line of enquiry then, or explore it after his murder. This is not an isolated incident whereby Crown Forces and their proxy’s carried out their terrorist campaign in this jurisdiction.
He said Commissioner Harris "has again displayed that he has no awareness of the credibility gap there is regarding the reputation of policing accountability dealing with legacy matters on this Island and the grave conflict imposed with his role within RUC Special Branch, particular in these circumstances.
"My client has essentially been forced to bring High Court proceedings to secure the most basic of answers which is outrageous this day in age and raises bigger questions on how the State are playing lip service with their role and commitments within the Good Friday Agreement.”
A Garda spokesman said the force did not comment on matters while they before the High Court
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