Hutchinson recalls a letter appearing in a paper, apparently from a woman concerned her husband had joined the UVF and his new comrade was a “communist” who was “doing the work of the Soviet Union”. People react differently to having killed someone. Some just walk into the RUC station and admit the murder A native of the Shankill Road, Belfast, Hutchinson took part in a series of riots in the area, during which Shankill dwellers clashed with residents of the neighbouring nationalist Unity Flats area. Members of the UVF fired shots at Unity Flats and it was around this time Hutchinson became a member of the organisation, describing his part in the rioting as "my initiation" into the UVF. [1] A strong supporter of Linfield F.C., Hutchinson would often lead his fellow Shankill-based supporters in throwing stones and singing loyalist songs at the Unity Flats as they returned from the club's Windsor Park home off the Lisburn Road. These young loyalists formed the basis of the reformed YCV, which Hutchinson played a leading role in re-establishing in the early 1970s. [2] Hutchinson was in charge of recruitment for this group in its early years, aided by Billy Spence. [3] Loyalist paramilitary groups start weapons decommissioning". Belfast Telegraph. 27 June 2009. Archived from the original on 20 July 2012 . Retrieved 3 May 2020.

Does this mean he does think about it? “I can’t justify anything to you, can’t justify anything to anybody out there, I can only justify it to myself, and that’s what you need to do ... we all need to do that, I have to do that, if I want to survive life.

Hutchinson recalls as an 11-year-old child being told not to go near Ian Paisley as he was on the Shankill one day with his father claiming people like that “will fight to the last drop of your blood”. Councillor Watton is both well-known as well as highly respected, his willingness to speak out and challenge injustices felt by his community shows true courage and strength." Read More Related Articles This is an honorary role that befits someone of Billy's standing, a founding member of the party and someone who has worked tirelessly over many years, for his community, on behalf of the PUP.

Hutchinson retorted that such niceties did not bother Paisley when he was urging others to their deaths:He adds it was “fight or flight” and he chose fight, saying hundreds of people on both sides of the community “felt aggrieved”. I was 18 when I went to prison. When I was on the outside, I always believed I’d go to prison or be dead. I went to jail so that meant that I didn’t go to a graveyard. Women were expected to support their men, not to speak for themselves. Unionist women were entirely absent from the Westminster and European Parliaments. The cannon fodder who became prisoners, and then leaders, brought a new vocabulary of equality and social inclusion that is unprecedented in loyalist politics. Written jointly by the paramilitary turned-politician and author Gareth Mulvenna, the biography shines a light on a grim reality of murder and mayhem that evolved into a political outlook that would see him labelled a “communist” by, he claims, the unionist establishment. Hutchinson would assume the leadership of UVF prisoners but it was his friendship with Spence that would ultimately lead him towards participation in the talks for the Belfast Good Friday Agreement.

A curious note, then, that while Hutchinson joined the UVF to protect Northern Ireland from the horrors of Fenianism, on the few occasions Irish Republicans appear in his narrative, he seems to get on reasonably well with them. You only get the options in front of you, and you take one. There were lots of young men who went to school with me who didn’t take that option, but I did, and I suppose I took it because I felt threatened, people shooting at you ... We had an organisation before we went into the UVF and we were all young, and the difficulty with that was we just couldn’t see a way out.”Those who are involved in cri Mr Hutchinson said that some elements of the 1998 agreement were replaced during the 2006 St Andrews Agreement, following which the DUP and Sinn Fein, which had emerged as the largest unionist and nationalist parties, agreed to restore the Assembly.