Frankie Curry

Frankie Curry ( – 17 March 1999) was a Northern Irish loyalist who was involved with a number of paramilitary groups during his long career. A critic of the Northern Ireland peace process, Curry was killed during a loyalist feud.

UVF and RHC A native of Belfast's Shankill Road and a nephew of Gusty Spence,

Curry's reputation within the UVF soon grew and in 1972 at the age of 17, he was a central figure in the plot to break his uncle Gusty Spence out of the Maze Prison. Curry was driving Spence back to prison after a period of leave when their car was stopped by a UVF patrol and Spence was "abducted". In fact both Curry and Spence were closely involved in planning and executing the supposed kidnapping. Curry knew in advance the Springmartin Road location on which the event was to take place and had been told specially by the UVF leadership to drive Spence that day.

Curry operated as part of the UVF's Red Hand Commando (RHC) and was said to have been responsible for at least twelve of the killings claimed by the RHC. claiming 19 in another interview, He stated that he had killed Bernard Rice, Patrick McCrory and Sean McConville in 1972 before killing Michael Coleman, Joseph McAleese, John McCormac and Thomas Holmes Curry the following year. All seven men were Catholic civilians.

Prison and aftermath During his time as a paramilitary Curry served a number of spells in prison. In 1973 he was given four years for intimidation and handling stolen goods and the following year was given twelve years for attempting to murder four youths on the Antrim Road. During his trial Curry identified himself as a member of the Red Hand Commando and refused to recognise the court. Curry confirmed himself as Elliot's killer in an interview shortly before his death.

However Curry admired Wright and his Mid-Ulster UVF dissidents and had forged close links with the group, which would soon re-emerge as the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), in the run-up to the Drumcree conflict of 1996. Curry soon fell in with a group of dissidents within the West Belfast UDA and constructed a number of car bombs for them, including one that detonated under the car of Eddie Copeland on 22 December 1996, injuring the well-known Provisional IRA volunteer. A further car bomb Curry made for the UDA was used to kill Glen Greer on 25 October 1997 outside his Bangor home. Greer, who had been a UDA member in the Kilcooley estate, had long been under threat due to allegations that he had worked as an informer for the RUC Special Branch. The two had a long-running personal enmity and Curry would confess to being the murderer shortly before his own death the following year.

Curry also continued his links with the LVF and on 5 September 1998 a pipe bomb he manufactured was brought to Drumcree by Muriel Landree, a close ally of Billy Wright, before being lobbed by an unidentified rioter, resulting in the death of Constable Frankie O'Reilly, a Royal Ulster Constabulary officer. O'Reilly, who was raised a Catholic but had converted to Presbyterianism, was the first victim of the RHD. A second followed on Halloween when a Catholic civilian, Brian Service, was shot on Alliance Avenue, a street that divides the republican Ardoyne area from the loyalist Upper Ardoyne. An attack on a Catholic bar on the outskirts of West Belfast was carried out that same week after Curry had encouraged dissident gunmen to do so, although this attack resulted in no fatalities. Curry returned to prison in early 1999, serving a short spell in Magilligan for failing to pay fines related to driving offences before being released on 15 March that same year.

Death and aftermath The Pony Club, Malvern Street, off Belfast's Shankill Road. Curry's body was found behind this building Curry's activity, and in particular his association with dissident elements within the UDA, had made him an unpopular figure with the leadership of that group whilst, despite his link to Gusty Spence and his history within the movement, the UVF had washed their hands of him. His body was found behind the Pony Trotting Supporters Sports and Social Club with several bullet wounds to the back of the head. Although Curry had earlier relocated to Portadown, his mother remained on the Shankill and he had been in the area to visit her that day. The killing was also condemned by Ulster Democratic Party activist John White who said "it's disgraceful that a man who dedicated his life to the loyalist cause should be cut down like this by people who call themselves loyalists". Curry was close to White and had hoped to see him on the day of his killing in order that White might help him with some job applications.

White would claim at Curry's funeral that the killing had been sanctioned by a major loyalist paramilitary group. By early 2000 the killing of Curry, as well as attempts by the UVF to kill Mahood, McClinton and Orange Volunteers founder and associate of Curry Clifford Peeples, prompted Johnny Adair, to whom White was close, to throw the full weight of the Shankill UDA behind the dissident campaign.

It was claimed in 2023 that Curry's death was approved by RHC supremo Winston Rea over the disappearance of a large amount of money Curry had stolen in a number of robberies.