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Questions
The murder of Billy Wright was initially believed to have been an "operation- planned and carried out by the Irish National Liberation Army. As a prominent loyalist figure, Billy Wright would have been considered by them to have been a principal target for military action.
However, subsequent study of events prior to the murder, the murder itself and subsequent happenings give rise to issues of serious public concern. Issues which to date have been deliberately ignored by the prison authorities, the RUC and the Northern Ireland Office.
It is precisely the authority's policy of failing to address these issues of concern that have given rise to a growing wave of public opinion that the full facts regarding the murder of Billy Wright have been and indeed are continuing to be deliberately withheld from the public domain.
Over a period of some two years plus, Billy Wrights father David, believing that his son's death was simply not an opportunist crime carried out by the INLA, but something more sinister and far reaching, has carried out his own investigation into the killing.
During that time Mr Wright has met with and discussed the circumstances of his son's death with the following representatives of Government, the RUC and the Prison Authorities:
The Northern Ireland Office - The Rt Hon Adam Ingram, JP Minister of State.
The Royal Ulster Constabulary - Assistant Chief Constable R White
The N 1 Prison Service - Mr Martin Mogg, former governor of HMP Maze [Dec 97), Mr Ken Crompton, current Maze governor and former No 2 to Mr Mogg and Mr Brian Barlow a governor at the Maze and who was present in the Maze on the morning of 27 December 1997.
Other discussions have taken place with the following:
Rt Hon David Trimble, MP for Upper Bann and former First Minister N I Assembly
Rt Hon Jeffrey Donaldson, Ulster Unionist MP for Lagan Valley
Rt Hon Andrew Hunter, Conservative MP for Basingstoke
Representatives of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Irish Government
Representatives of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, Dublin
Representatives of the Democratic Unionist Party
Representatives of the Social Democratic Labour Party, N 1 Assembly.
Representatives of the UK Unionist Party
Representatives of the N 1 Unionist Party
Representatives of the United Unionist Assembly Party
Representatives of British/Irish Rights Watch.
Prison officers on duty in H Block 6, HM Prison, Maze on Saturday 27th Dec 1997
LVF prisoners present in H Block 6 on Saturday 27th Dec 1997.
A visit also took place to HM Prison Maze in February 2000 when Mr Wright, accompanied by Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, met senior prison officials and inspected the scene of the murder at H Block 6.
It must be put on record that throughout all his contact with the NIO, the RUC and the N 1 Prison Authorities, David Wright has been continually obstructed in his enquiries at every opportunity. To date, Prime Minister, Tony Blair and NI Secretary of State, Peter Mandelson have refused to meet with him in person.
Accordingly, it can be seen from the thoroughness of Mr Wright's investigations and his meticulous attention to detail, that the questions that now follow are of such a serious and alarming content that they can only be answered satisfactorily via the medium of a full, independent, public inquiry.
It is now incumbent upon all those who espouse to uphold the principals of democracy, equality, justice and human rights to ensure that in case of Billy Wright, those principals are applied with immediate effect.
The following pages outline in detail the areas of concern regarding the murder of Billy Wright that the authorities refuse to address.