- Billy Giles
Billy Giles (July 1957-25 September 1998) was a convicted Northern Irish murderer who later became active in politics.
Family Life
Billy was born William Alexander Ellis Giles in 1957, and grew up in Island Street, in the staunchly
Protestant East Belfast ,Northern Ireland . His father Sam, worked as a plater in the nearbyHarland and Wolff shipyard, and his mother, Lily was a housewife. Billy was the eldest of six children. The Giles' were very religious, the Protestant church was the centre of their lives. He often attended the rallies ofIan Paisley , and was strongly influenced by his sermons. His father, a former soldier in theBritish Army , was a member of theOrange Order , TheRoyal Black Preceptory , and TheApprentice Boys of Derry . [ Peter Taylor "Loyalists", Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., London, 1999 ISBN 0 7475-4519 7 Page 1,2.]The Troubles
He witnessed first-hand the events of
Bloody Friday on21 July 1972 when the IRA exploded twenty-six bombs across Belfast, killing nine people, and injuring 103. In 1975 ,he joined theUlster Volunteer Force (UVF); he had just turned eighteen years old. [ Peter Taylor "Loyalists", Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., London, 1999 ISBN 0 7475-4519 7 Pages 2,3]Murder
On
19 November 1982 Billy Giles abducted an innocent Catholic married man, Michael Fay, and then shot him in the head, killing him. He was his friend and workmate. The murder was in retaliation for the fatal shooting of Karen McKeown, a young Protestant Sunday school teacher by theIrish National Liberation Army two months previously.After Billy's arrest and trial, he was sentenced to life in TheMaze Prison [ Peter Taylor "Loyalists", Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., London, 1999 ISBN 0 7475-4519 7 Pages 4-6]Life In The Maze
Billy spent his time in prison studying. He took several
GCSE 's, and he eventually obtained anOpen University Degree inSocial Sciences . He also wrote a play about his childhood in Island Street called "Boy Girl". It was later performed before a Belfast audience; his parents were present at the performance. It took Billy seven years before he adjusted to life inside The Maze. He gave many interviews to British journalist,Peter Taylor ,to whom he confessed his deep remorse at the killing of Michael Fay. [ Peter Taylor "Loyalists", Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., London, 1999 ISBN 0 7475-4519 7 Pages 7-8]Progressive Unionist Party
He was released on
4 July 1997 after serving fourteen years of his life sentence. He immediately commenced work with theProgressive Unionist Party also known as PUP, and concentrated on helping released Loyalist prisoners to resettle into the community. At the signing of theGood Friday Agreement on10 April 1998 atStormont , Billy was part of PUP's negotiating team. He felt optimistic about the future of Northern Ireland and his own. [ Peter Taylor "Loyalists", Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., London, 1999 ISBN 0 7475-4519 7 Page 8]Death
Despite his degree, he was unable to obtain a proper job that paid a decent salary. On the night of 24-25 September after composing a four-page letter of explanation, Billy Giles hanged himself in his living room. He was forty-one years old. One of his last lines in his letter read, "Please let the next generation live normal lives". This line was quoted during a speech given by
Colm Cavanagh , Vice-President of TheAlliance Party of Northern Ireland on3 March 2006 to TheDepartment of Education .External links
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/learning/eyewitness/changing/voices/giles.shtml BBC]
References
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