Mark Fulton (loyalist)

Mark Fulton
Mark "Swinger" Fulton
Born	c. 1961 Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland
Died	10 June 2002 (aged 40–41) Maghaberry Prison, County Armagh
Cause of death	Apparent suicide by hanging
Resting place	Kernan Cemetery, Portadown
Nationality	British
Other names	"Swinger"
Known for	Leader of Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF; 1997–2002) Member, Ulster Volunteer Force
Spouse(s)	Louise Fulton; 2 children
Parent(s)	Jim and Sylvia (née Prentice) Fulton

Mark "Swinger" Fulton (c. 1961 – 10 June 2002) was a Northern Irish loyalist. He was the leader of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), having taken over its command following the assassination of Billy Wright in the Maze Prison in 1997 by members of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).

Fulton was alleged by journalist Susan McKay to have carried out a dozen sectarian killings in the 1990s. He also allegedly organized the murder of a Catholic lawyer, Rosemary Nelson, in 1999 while he was out of prison on compassionate leave. In 2002, he was found hanged in his cell at Maghaberry Prison, an apparent suicide. He was awaiting trial having been charged with conspiracy to murder a man from a rival loyalist paramilitary organisation. At the time of his death, Fulton was married with two children.

Mark Fulton was born in Portadown, County Armagh in 1961, one of the children of Jim Fulton, a former British soldier who worked as a window cleaner. His mother, Sylvia (née Prentice), came from a family of wealthy car dealers. Fulton grew up in the working-class Protestant Killycomain area. A childhood friend described Fulton as "a lovely, sweet wee boy".

Following the outbreak of the Troubles in the late 1960s, Fulton's father became a member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). According to journalist Susan McKay, senior Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) members Robin "the Jackal" Jackson and Harris Boyle were frequent visitors to the Fulton home in the early 1970s. Jackson, one of the alleged leaders of the gang which carried out the 1974 Dublin car bombings, became the commander of the UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade in July 1975. Four days later, Boyle was blown up after placing a bomb on the Miami Showband's minibus after the band was stopped at a bogus checkpoint by UVF gunmen, and three band members shot dead.