UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade

UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade formed part of the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force in Northern Ireland. The brigade was established in Lurgan, County Armagh in 1972 by its first commander Billy Hanna. The unit operated mainly around the Lurgan and Portadown areas. Subsequent leaders of the brigade were Robin Jackson, known as "The Jackal", and Billy Wright. The Mid-Ulster Brigade carried out many attacks, mainly in Northern Ireland, especially in the South Armagh area, but it also extended its operational reach into the Republic of Ireland. Two of the most notorious attacks in the history of the Troubles were carried out by the Mid-Ulster Brigade: the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings and the Miami Showband killings in 1975. Members of the Mid-Ulster Brigade were part of the Glenanne gang which the Pat Finucane Centre has since linked to at least 87 lethal attacks in the 1970s.

The brigade has been active since 1972. The Portadown unit along with the brigade's leader Billy Wright was officially stood down on 2 August 1996 by the UVF's Brigade Staff (its Belfast leadership) following the brigade's killing of a Catholic taxi driver during a UVF ceasefire. The brigade, however, continued to function in the mid-Ulster area. In 2000–2001 the Mid-Ulster Brigade was involved in an acrimonious feud with the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), the group set up by Billy Wright. It was during this feud that Mid-Ulster brigade commander Richard Jameson was shot dead by the LVF.