John Bingham (loyalist)
| John Bingham | |
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John Bingham
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| Birth name | John Dowey Bingham |
| Born | c.1953 Northern Ireland |
| Died | 14 September 1986 (aged 33) Ballysillan, north Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Allegiance | Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) |
| Rank | Lieutenant colonel |
| Unit | D Company, 1st Battalion, Ballysillan |
| Conflict | The Troubles |
John Dowey Bingham (c. 1953 – 14 September 1986) was a prominent Northern Irish loyalist who led "D Company" (Ballysillan), 1st Battalion, Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). He was shot dead by the Provisional IRA after they had broken into his home. Bingham was one of a number of prominent UVF members to be assassinated during the 1980s, the others being Lenny Murphy, William Marchant, Robert Seymour and Jackie Irvine.
John Bingham was born in Northern Ireland around 1953 and was brought up in a Protestant family. Described as a shopkeeper, he was married with two children. He lived in Ballysillan Crescent, in the unionist estate of Ballysillan in North Belfast, and also owned a holiday caravan home in Millisle, County Down.
He was a member of the "Old Boyne Island Heroes" Lodge of the Orange Order. On an unknown date, he joined the Ulster loyalist paramilitary organisation, the UVF, and eventually became the commander of its "D Company", 1st Battalion, Ballysillan, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was the mastermind behind a productive gun-running operation from Canada, which over the years had involved the smuggling of illegal weapons into Northern Ireland to supply UVF arsenals; however, three months after Bingham's death, the entire operation collapsed following a raid on a house in Toronto by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in December 1986.
Bingham was one of the loyalist paramilitaries named in the evidence given by supergrass Joe Bennett, who accused him of being a UVF commander. He testified that he had seen Bingham armed with an M60 machine gun and claimed that Bingham had been sent to Toronto to raise funds for the UVF. These meetings opened contact with Canadian businessman John Taylor, who became involved in smuggling guns from North America to the UVF. As a result of Bennett's testimony, Bingham was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment after being convicted of committing serious crimes. He publicly denounced the supergrass system before live television cameras outside Belfast's Crumlin Road Courthouse when he was released in December 1984 after his conviction had been overturned, having spent two and a half years in prison.
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