Glenanne gang

Glenanne gang
Participant in the Troubles
Fields near the farm where the gang was based (Ballylane townland, near Glenanne, County Armagh)
Active	1972–1980
Ideology	Ulster loyalism
Leaders	John Weir Billy McCaughey Billy Hanna Robin Jackson Harris Boyle
Headquarters	Glenanne, County Armagh, Northern Ireland
Area of operations	Mainly County Armagh and east County Tyrone
Strength	Over 40 known members
Part of	Ulster Volunteer Force
Opponents	Irish nationalists

The Glenanne gang or Glenanne group was a secret informal alliance of Ulster loyalists, mostly from Northern Ireland, who carried out shooting and bombing attacks against Catholics and nationalists during the Troubles, beginning in the 1970s. Most of its attacks took place in the "murder triangle" area of counties Armagh and Tyrone. It also launched some attacks elsewhere in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland. The gang included British soldiers from the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), police officers from the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), and members of the Mid-Ulster Brigade of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). Twenty-five British soldiers and police officers were named as purported members of the gang. Details about the group have come from many sources, including the affidavit of former member and RUC officer John Weir; statements by other former members; police, army and court documents; and ballistics evidence linking the same weapons to various attacks. Since 2003, the group's activities have also been investigated by the 2006 Cassel Report, and three reports commissioned by Irish Supreme Court Justice Henry Barron, known as the Barron Reports. A book focusing on the group's activities, Lethal Allies: British Collusion in Ireland, was published in 2013. It drew on all the aforementioned sources, as well as Historical Enquiries Team investigations.

Lethal Allies claims that permutations of the group killed about 120 people – almost all of whom were "upwardly mobile" Catholic civilians with no links to Irish republican paramilitaries. The Cassel Report investigated 76 killings attributed to the group and found evidence that British soldiers and RUC officers were involved in 74 of those. John Weir claimed his superiors knew he was working with loyalist militants but allowed it to continue. The Cassel Report also said that some senior officers knew of the crimes but did nothing to prevent, investigate or punish. It has been alleged that some key members were double agents working for British military intelligence and RUC Special Branch. Attacks attributed to the group include the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the Miami Showband killings, and the Reavey and O'Dowd killings.