Robin King

Robin Andrew King, (born 7 July 1966 As a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) which he had joined in the late 1980s, King was close to Billy Wright with whom he shares a birthday. Wright took over as leader of the UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade during the early 1990s upon the retirement of its commander Robin Jackson. King served as the Mid-Ulster Brigade's Director of Operations.

Imprisonment In 1994, King was given a 16-year prison sentence for conspiracy to murder and sent to the Maze Prison. Meanwhile, in 1996 Wright formed the breakaway Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) after he and his Portadown unit were stood down by the UVF leadership following the unauthorised killing of taxi driver Michael McGoldrick by Wright's men while the UVF were on ceasefire. King was arrested and tried for Keys' murder but acquitted in 2000.

LVF leader According to the Daily Mirror King was the main rival to the leadership of Mark "Swinger" Fulton and just before the latter's prison suicide King was preparing to wrest control of the LVF from him. King controlled the LVF in Lurgan whilst the Fultons dominated the movement in its traditional stronghold of Portadown. However, King felt that control should rest with the Lurgan faction and a loyalist feud broke out. King and his close ally Neil Hyde, who were dubbed the "Mourneview Mafia" after their home estate in Lurgan, became heavily involved in racketeering, running a series of protection rackets and even demanding a luxury apartment for King from a local property developer. The Mourneview Mafia were also linked to a racist attack on an Asian family on the estate, with their house attacked and graffiti painted on their windows reading "Paki Get Out Now - Combat 18 National Front". In July 2010, however, charges against King and his co-defendants were withdrawn, after the evidence of a key prosecution witness was brought into question.

Personal life In 2007, during heightening tensions between members of the LVF and leading Belfast dissident loyalist Jackie Mahood, King announced that he had become a born-again Christian and stated that he was distancing himself from his LVF colleagues. It was the second time in three years that King had claimed to have embraced Christianity.