Billy McCaughey

Billy McCaughey
Billy McCaughey, c. 2003
Birth name	William McCaughey
Nickname(s)	"The Protestant Boy"
Born	c. 1950 Ahoghill, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Died	8 February 2006 (aged 56) Ballymena, County Antrim,
Allegiance	Royal Ulster Constabulary Ulster Volunteer Force
Unit	RUC Special Patrol Group UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade
Conflict	The Troubles

William "Billy" McCaughey (c. 1950 – 8 February 2006) was a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary's Special Patrol Group and the illegal Ulster Volunteer Force's Glennane gang in the 1970s. He was imprisoned for 16 years for murder from 1980 to 1996. On his release he worked as a loyalist and Orange Order activist until his death in 2006.

Growing up a Presbyterian in a townland outside Ahoghill, County Antrim, McCaughey was given the nickname "The Protestant Boy" which he carried into adulthood. His father, Alexander McCaughey was an elder in the local Trinity Presbyterian church, and although he was described by investigative journalist Martin Dillon as a "pillar of respectability", nevertheless he passed on his vociferous hatred of Catholics to his son. McCaughey served in the Ulster Special Constabulary, the 'B Specials', and when that was disbanded, he joined the regular Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). A former bodyguard to Ulster Unionist Minister John Taylor, McCaughey was also a member for a time of the Ulster Protestant Volunteers, a paramilitary group associated with the Reverend Ian Paisley, and of Paisley's Free Presbyterian Church.

In the early 1970s, McCaughey was assigned to the RUC Special Patrol Group, a specialist "anti-terrorist" unit, based in Armagh. McCaughey co-operated extensively with the UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade and carried out a number of attacks on their behalf, along with SPG colleagues. He "expressed virulently anti-Catholic views ... and made it known ... that he had strong links to the UVF. A Special Branch recommendation that he be excluded after his probationary period was overridden by an inspector's report that described him as 'one of the best, if not the best, constables attached to my section (of the B Specials)'". McCaughey said of his RUC Special Patrol Group unit: ”Our colour code was Orange and it was Orange by nature and several of us were paramilitaries. Our proud boast was that we would never have a Catholic in it. We did actually have a Catholic once, a guy called Danny from Dungannon. The day after he joined we had him dangling out from the back of a Land Rover with his chin inches from the road. He lasted a week”. In 1977 he was charged with stealing a table from the Mayor of Lisburn Elsie Kelsey's home. McCaughey had been on escort duty for Ulster Unionist Party politician John Taylor, who was attending a party in the house at the time.