Billy Wright’s killer dies in hospital
News Letter
29 June 2008
The republican who shot dead loyalist leader Billy Wright in the Maze prison 11 years ago has died.
Christopher ‘Crip’ McWilliams led the INLA unit that shot Wright as he sat in a prison van inside the jail in December 1997.
It is understood that McWilliams died in Newry’s Daisyhill Hospital in this morning from cancer.
The killing rattled the peace process and sparked strong retribution.
McWilliams, who was in his 40s, was one of three INLA members who carried out the infamous shooting.
He received a life sentence for the murder, which he carried out support from fellow republican prisoners John Kennaway, and John “Sonny” Glennon. All three men were released early from jail under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
The Billy Wright Inquiry is ongoing at Banbridge Courthouse and is probing the possibility of state collusion in the killing.
'So venceremos, beidh bua againn eigin lá eigin. Sealadaigh abú.'
--Bobby Sands