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Photo of Billy Wright taken in 1996, a year before his death.
Wright

Billy Wright murder report release announced

Former LVF leader was shot dead inside the Maze prison.

THE FINDINGS OF A public inquiry into the death of loyalist Billy Wright will be released on 14 September. Wright, 37, was shot dead in the Maze prison in 1997 by INLA republicans who had smuggled weapons in.

The former leader of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) was serving an eight-year sentence for threatening to kill a woman when he was attacked.

RTÉ news coverage of his death:

Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson said the report would be published in full after a thorough check showed it would not endanger the lives of anyone who gave evidence to the inquiry behind it.

He said the document would not have been ready to put to parliament before the summer recess, and would not be published until September.

Separately, the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC), a paramilitary watchdog, is to issue a report into the murder of Bobby Moffat, on the Shankhill Road in May. The UVF were blamed for killing him, but it may have been the result of a private dispute between Moffat and leading loyalists.

That report will be out before October.