BOBBY MOFFETT was the victim of a “public execution” by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) because he had challenged the organisation’s standing and leadership, the Independent Monitoring Commission has found.
Moffett (43) was gunned down in broad daylight on the Shankill Road in Belfast on May 28th by two men wearing high-visibility jackets in front of shocked onlookers.
The victim, a former member of the UVF and its sister paramilitary splinter group, the Red Hand Commando, was murdered after he fell foul of the leadership and senior UVF figures on the Shankill.
The murder led to convulsions within loyalism with Assembly member Dawn Purvis resigning as leader of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) which is politically aligned to the UVF. It also raised serious questions about the loyalist paramilitaries’ ceasefire and commitment to the peace process.
While the commission was in no doubt that the UVF murdered Moffett, it nonetheless decided against “specifying” the organisation which could have been tantamount to declaring the paramilitary group off ceasefire.
The commission found that the UVF had calculatedly chosen to kill Moffett, who had served 13 years in prison on two robbery charges, in such public fashion.
“An associate of the organisation who was flouting its authority, or threatening or taunting senior figures beyond their endurance, could have been killed in ways which were far less prominent,” it reported.
It said the victim could have been murdered in a manner which was “less prominent” but that “the method chosen was ‘public execution’ in the heart of one of the areas from which the UVF draws its strength”.
“We believe that in addition to removing the challenge Mr Moffett was seen by some to present, the purpose was to send a message to the organisation and the community that the leadership of the UVF was robust and was not prepared to have its authority flouted,” added the commission.
It noted that senior UVF leaders could have prevented the murder had it so chosen. It found that there were tensions between senior members of the Shankill UVF and Moffett and his family.
One member of the family was seriously assaulted by the paramilitary group over alleged anti-social activity. “In the period shortly before his death Mr Moffett himself had approached the local UVF commander to challenge this action. We believe he had recently visited the commander’s home and had caused substantial damage to his car,” the commission said. “He had behaved in ways which, in the eyes of the UVF, appeared to disregard the standing of the organisation, and he threatened some leading local figures in particular. Killing Mr Moffett was a way of dealing with the perceived threat,” it added.
The commission said it still believed the paramilitary group wanted to honour its May 2007 commitments to “renounce violence and transform itself from a military into a civilian organisation” and had decided against respecifying the organisation.
