John Graham | |
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| Born | 1945 (age 79–80) Lower Shankill,Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Paramilitary | Ulster Volunteer Force |
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John "Bunter" Graham (bornc. 1945[1]) is a long-standing prominentUlster loyalist figure.[2] Born in theLower Shankill, Graham rose quickly through the ranks of theUlster Volunteer Force (UVF), joining other UVF leaders at a rally at Stormont in 1974 to celebrate the collapse of power sharing.[a]
He became a member of the UVF's "Brigade Staff" (Belfast leadership) and, allegedly, chief of staff in 1976.[2] In the late 1970s, he was admitted to theMater Hospital for a short stay. Although he was watched by bodyguards, theProvisional IRA decided to assassinate him, in what they termed "Operation Bunter". However, this was prevented by the police, acting on information received from an informant.[4][pages needed]
In 1983, Joseph Bennett, a UVF commander, became an informant for theRoyal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). As a result, fourteen prominent members of the UVF were imprisoned, including Graham.[2][5]
Graham was targeted for assassination by theIrish People's Liberation Organisation (IPLO) and on 10 October 1991 an IPLO unit entered the Diamond Jubilee bar on Graham's nativeShankill Road and shot a patron dead. However the man they killed was Harry Ward, a 42-year-old ProtestantUlster Defence Association (UDA) member whom they mistook for Graham.[6][7] On 14 January 1993, Graham was hit and critically injured by rifle shots, fired through the window of his home. TheIrish National Liberation Army (INLA) claimed responsibility.[8] The attack led to a number of other leading loyalists turning their homes into miniature fortresses for fear that they too would be targeted.[9]
Graham has been named on several occasions as the incumbent UVF Chief of Staff, and as such holding brigadier-general rank: for example, byPat Rabbitte, and by campaignerRaymond McCord.[10] Investigative journalist and authorMartin Dillon uses the pseudonym "Mr F." to refer to a "military commander" in the UVF, whom he states was "known as Bunter".[11]
Ed Moloney in his bookVoices From the Grave: Two Men's War in Ireland stated that he has held the position of UVF Chief of Staff since 1976.[2] Raymond McCord claimed, in a statement to theUnited States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, that Graham had acted as an "agent of the state".[10]
In 2000, amid a violentUDA-UVF feud, Graham was involved in talking to hardliners in the UVF and dissuading them from escalating the conflict.[12] Under Graham's influence the UVF members who were feuding with theUDA West Belfast Brigade agreed to a truce negotiated by the group's political representativesDavid Ervine of the UVF-linkedProgressive Unionist Party andGary McMichael of the UDA's political arm, theUlster Democratic Party.[13]
In 2012, Graham went on a trip with other veteran loyalists andrepublicans to theMiddle East to study theArab-Israeli conflict and the lessons it might provide for Northern Ireland.[14]
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