They know he won't remember but still they brought Craig McCausland's
two-year-old son to see him in the coffin, to say goodbye.
"It was really important to us," says Craig's cousin Nichola McIlvenny.
"When Craig was two his mother was murdered. As he was growing up, he was
always asking, 'did I get to see my mummy before she was buried?'"
Craig, 20, was shot dead last month in the loyalist feud which has so far
claimed three lives. No-one thinks he will be the last victim. He is buried
with the mother he never knew in a Belfast cemetery.
His family won't disclose which one. "We're frightened somebody will
desecrate the grave," confides Nichola, which says just about everything
regarding the make-up of loyalist paramilitaries.
The UVF seems determined to wipe out the breakaway Loyalist Volunteer Force
(LVF) in the feud. The LVF says it won't be easily got rid off and will
"take out" senior UVF figures.
The feud is linked to personality clashes, rows over drugs, and the UVF's
desire to stamp its authority on loyalism. Both groups are involved in
drug-dealing, but the LVF more crudely. When the UVF recently expelled LVF
families accused of thuggery from east Belfast's Garnerville estate, there
was strong community support.
Whereas swearing in members on the bible or gun is a serious business for
the UVF, the LVF is much looser. It has a small membership but an extensive
range of criminal associates who become vulnerable in a feud.
The LVF prides itself on the 'toughness' of its hardcore members. It scorns
the UVF's move into community work, saying it will never "sell
ballot-tickets". Despite its sectarianism, it deals with Catholic criminals.
'Let them kill each other' is a sentiment common among most nationalists and
some Protestants. "We would have thought like that," says Nichola. "But it's
not just paramilitary killing paramilitary. Innocents like Craig, who belong
to no organisation, are being caught up in this feud. Somebody must stop
it."
In 1987, the family were just as desperate. "Reward – £1,000 for information
about the murder of Lorraine McCausland. Strictly confidential. Genuine.
Someone knows – please help," said the advertisement in the Belfast
Telegraph.
Lorraine had been found lying half-naked, face down in a stream. A trail of
blood led to the club in Tynedale, north Belfast, where she had been
drinking. UDA men had beaten her to death with a breeze block. The 20
people inside claimed to have seen nothing.
Nobody is saying much about her son's murder either but the family are still
trying. Nichola is setting up a website to keep Craig's murder in the
public domain and, hopefully, prick somebody's conscience.
Craig lived with his partner Kathy Gibson, who has two children from a
previous relationship, in the Woodvale area of north Belfast. They were in
bed when the UVF sledge-hammered down the door.
"Craig threw on his jeans and was coming downstairs to see what was
happening when they shot him on the landing," says Nichola. "Kathy and the
kids ran into a bedroom as the shooting started.
"When the gunmen left, she grabbed a t-shirt from the laundry basket and
tried to stop the flow of blood from Craig's wounds." It was no good, Craig
died in hospital. Both the police and LVF insist he had no paramilitary
links.
He had recently been on remand for a minor offence in Hydebank young
offenders' centre. Sources claim he was seen chatting to an LVF figure
there, which caused him to be targeted.
Just hours before his murder, the LVF had shot David Hanley, 20, who had no
paramilitary links, as he walked his dogs past a bonfire. He survived but
was blinded and may need a colostomy bag for life.
His mother says he is suicidal. Last month, the UVF shot dead Stephen Paul,
28, a drug dealer and wife beater with LVF links, and Jameson Lockhart, 25,
who also associated with the group.
The LVF is based in pockets of north and east Belfast, several housing
estates in counties Down and Antrim, and Lurgan and Portadown. The hatred
between the organisations goes back to the LVF's formation by expelled UVF
Mid-Ulster leader, Billy Wright, in 1996.
The UVF's third most senior figure, a north Belfast businessman, also
defected (although he is no longer militarily active), along with some
members of a prominent loyalist north Belfast family.
These individuals head the UVF's death list. Three members of the loyalist
family share the same Christian name – the father had one son to his wife,
and another to his girlfriend, both called after him.
"The sons are very close and there are about 30 other members of the
extended family, all males in their 30s. They might be city-based but
they're into hunting dogs and country sports and they've an extensive
network of contacts outside Belfast.
"They're proving difficult for the UVF to deal with," says a source who
knows the family. The brothers are strong supporters of former UDA Shankill
commander, Johnny Adair. They were allegedly involved in several murders,
including that of GAA official Sean Browne in 1997.
The UVF campaign against the LVF is led by its 'Liverpool team', operating
under its Shankill commander from premises in north Belfast. The building
is extremely well-protected. The commander was recently arrested but
released without charge.
The feud costs £30,000 a day to police. The UVF claims the authorities are
encouraging the LVF to destabilise loyalism. The LVF alleges the UVF is
infiltrated by the security services which want its eradication. The PSNI
declined to have an officer interviewed about the feud by The Sunday
Tribune.
Nichola McIlvenny says the IRA is no longer an excuse for loyalist activity,
and unionist politicians must do more to end the violence. "When I took
Dean to see Craig in the coffin, I told him his daddy was sleeping. He said
'night, night'. It was heart-breaking. Loyalist paramilitaries destroyed two
generations of my family. They mustn't be allowed to destroy a third."
