Billy Wright

Billy Wright, the founder of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), was a high-profile target for republican paramilitaries. On 27 December 1997, while he was serving a sentence in the Maze Prison (HMP Maze), three members of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) climbed over the roof of a prison block, dropped into the exercise yard, and shot him dead as he sat in a prison van awaiting a visit.

The inquiry was triggered by long-standing allegations from the Wright family that the state had colluded in the murder to "remove" a hardline opponent of the peace process. Lord MacLean’s 700-page report provided a detailed account of an almost unbelievable string of security lapses on the day of the murder:

• Housing Policy: The decision to house the LVF and the INLA (who were not on ceasefire) in the same block (H-Block 6) was described as a "wrongful act" that directly facilitated the murder.

• Physical Security: The inquiry found a failure to strengthen the roof of the block despite warnings, and a security camera covering the area was out of action at the time of the attack.

• Staffing: A guard in the observation tower overlooking the roof had been called away from his post twice on the morning of the shooting.

• Intelligence: The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) failed to pass on a key piece of intelligence that the INLA were actively planning to kill Wright in the months leading up to the attack.

The report was a stinging critique of the Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS), describing it as being "negligent" and plagued by a "lack of adequate and effective systems." However, the inquiry stopped short of a "collusion" finding. It stated that these failures were the result of incompetence and a "sloppy" security culture rather than an intentional plot by MI5 or the police to have Wright killed. The family famously rejected this conclusion, describing the report as a "whitewash."