This is a timeline of actions by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), a loyalist paramilitary group formed in 1971. Most of these actions took place during the conflict known as "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland. The UDA's declared goal was to defend Loyalist areas from attack and to combat Irish republican paramilitaries. However, most of its victims were Irish Catholic civilians, who were often chosen at random.
It used the name Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) when it wished to claim responsibility for its attacks and avoid political embarrassment, as the UDA was a legal organisation for much of its history.The Courier, 9 February 1987The Daily Gazette, 12 August 1992 The UFF usually claimed that those targeted were Provisional Irish Republican Army members or IRA sympathizers.Kentucky New Era, 14 April 1992 Other times, attacks on Catholic civilians were claimed as "retaliation" for IRA actions, since the IRA drew most of its support from Catholics. Such retaliation was seen as both collective punishment and an attempt to weaken the IRA's support. However, during 1972 the organisation openly claimed responsibility for several gun and bomb attacks using the UDA title.The Troubles – A Chronology of the Northern Ireland Conflict: Issue 18 . Glenravel Publications. p. 6
1970s 1971 September: the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) was formed from various loyalist "defence groups" in Belfast.
1972 January–June 20 April: UDA members walked into a taxi depot on Clifton Street in Belfast and asked for a taxi to Ardoyne. From the location of the depot and the stated destination, they could be sure their driver was a Catholic. They forced the driver (Gerard Donnelly, aged 22) to stop at Harrybrook Street, where they killed him with a shot in the head.McKittrick, David. Lost Lives. Mainstream, 1999. p. 1781972 necrology , cain.ulst.ac.uk; accessed 2 December 2015. 4 May: a Catholic civilian (Victor Andrews, aged 20) was found stabbed to death in an entry off Baltic Avenue, New Lodge, Belfast. It is believed the UDA was responsible.McKittrick, p. 181 14 May: a Catholic civilian (Gerard McCusker, aged 24) was found beaten and shot dead on waste ground at Hopeton Street, Shankill Road, Belfast. It is believed the UDA was responsible.McKittrick, p. 185 17 May: the UDA kidnapped a Catholic civilian (Bernard Moane, aged 46) from a pub on the Shankill Road in Belfast. They took him to Knockagh War Memorial near Greenisland, County Antrim, and shot him to death.McKittrick, p. 186 23 May: the UDA shot dead a Catholic civilian (Andrew Brennan, aged 22) at his home on Sicily Park, Finaghy, Belfast. 10 June: the UDA carried out a drive-by shooting on a group of Catholic teenagers in Belfast. A Catholic civilian (Marian Brown, aged 17) was killed and a number of others wounded as they stood on the corner of Roden Street and Grosvenor Road. The British Army were on patrol when they exchanged shots with a gunman in the car, who was wielding a Thompson submachine gun.McKittrick, p. 199 11 June: the UDA shot dead a Catholic civilian (John Madden, aged 43) as he swept the footpath outside his shop on Oldpark Road, Belfast. 16 June: the UDA shot dead a Catholic civilian (Charles Connor, aged 32) at Minnowburn, Shaw's Bridge, Belfast. 24 June: a UDA paramilitary (John Brown, aged 29), was found shot near his home, Blackmountain Parade, Springmartin, Belfast. He had been killed in an internal Ulster Defence Association dispute. 26 June: a UDA volunteer (John Black, aged 32) was shot by the British Army at a barricade in Douglas Street, off Beersbridge Road, Belfast during street disturbances. He died five weeks later. 27 June: a UDA volunteer (William Galloway, aged 18) was shot dead by an unknown republican group in Edlingham Street, Tiger's Bay, Belfast during street disturbances. 30 June: the UDA began to set up "no-go areas" (urban areas which were entirely controlled by the group and blocked off by barricades). UDA members stopped and questioned people at these barricades and a number of them were killed, usually when they were found to be Catholic.McKittrick, p. 209
July 1 July: an English civilian visitor (Paul Jobling, aged 19) was found hooded and shot dead on waste ground, Westway Drive, Glencairn, Belfast. It is thought the UDA was responsible. 1 July: a Catholic civilian (Daniel Hayes, aged 40) was found shot dead in a playground at the mainly loyalist Penrith Street, Shankill, Belfast. A witness who lived nearby said he saw two men take a third out of a car and into the playground. The car driver said to the witness: "You are all right, it's the UDA". He then heard five shots. 2 July: two Catholic civilians (James Howell, aged 31, and Gerard McCrea, aged 27) were found hooded and shot dead in Belfast. Their bodies were found in different locations but it was believed they were killed together. Howell was found in McCrea's car, Cavour Street, off Old Lodge Road, Belfast. McCrea was found at Forthriver Road, Glencairn, Belfast. It is believed the UDA was responsible.McKittrick, p. 210. 9 July: the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) shot dead a UDA volunteer (Gerald Turkington, aged 32) on Stewart Street, Markets, Belfast. 10 July - the UDA was involved in a ten-hour long gun battle with Republican paramilitaries in the Lower Falls area of Belfast.Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers' Party. Penguin UK, 2009. 11 July: a Catholic civilian (Charles Watson, aged 21) was found shot dead off Carlisle Circus, Belfast. It is believed the UDA was responsible.McKittrick, p. 217 11/12 July: UDA and UVF members shot dead a 15-year-old Catholic civilian (David McClenaghan) in his home on Southport Street, Belfast. They also sexually assaulted his mother. 12 July: a UDA volunteer shot dead two civilians inside McCabe's Bar on High Street, Portadown, County Armagh. One (Jack McCabe, aged 48) was the pub's Catholic owner and the other (William Cochrane, aged 53) was a Protestant customer. Both were shot in the head at close range. The gunman was a former RUC officer who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murders. There were shouts of "Keep up the fight!" from about a dozen people in the court's public gallery.McKittrick, p. 219 13 July: an off-duty Catholic Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) soldier, Henry Russell (aged 23), was found dead at Larkfield Drive, Sydenham, Belfast. He had been burnt, stabbed, battered and shot in the head, reputedly as an alleged informer.McKittrick, p. 211 15 July: a Catholic civilian (Felix Hughes, aged 35) was kidnapped, beaten, tortured and shot dead by the UDA in a mainly loyalist area of Portadown. His body was found on 4 August 1972 in a drain near Watson Street.McKittrick, p. 225 19 July: a Protestant civilian (Hugh Wright, aged 21), was found shot dead in a field off Hightown Road, near Belfast. 21 July: the UDA shot dead a Catholic civilian (Anthony Davidson, aged 21) at his home on Clovelly Street, off Springfield Road, Belfast.McKittrick, p. 229 21 July: a UDA volunteer (William Irvine, aged 18) was killed in a car bomb explosion at Oxford Street Bus Station, Belfast. An inadequate warning had been given. 22 July: the UDA shot dead two Catholic civilians, Rosemary McCartney (aged 27) and Patrick O'Neill (aged 26). Their bodies were found in an abandoned car, Forthriver Road, Glencairn, Belfast. 24 July: the UDA shot dead a Protestant civilian, Frederick Maguire, aged 56, who was married to a Catholic, on Mayo Street, Shankill, Belfast. He was shot dead on his way to work at a linen mill.Frederick Maguire details , issuu.com; accessed 28 January 2016. 25 July: the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) shot a UDA volunteer (James Kenna, aged 19) dead while he was walking at the junction of Roden and Clifford streets, Belfast. He was reportedly part of a Loyalist mob attempting to invade a Catholic area. 26 July: the UDA shot dead two Catholic civilians, Francis Corr (aged 52) and James McGerty (aged 26), in an abandoned car which they then burned on Summer Street, Lower Oldpark, Belfast. 27 July: the UDA shot dead a Catholic civilian (Francis McStravick, aged 42) off Linfield Road, Sandy Row, Belfast. 28 July: a Catholic (Philip Maguire, aged 55) was found shot dead in his firm's van on Carrowreagh Road, Dundonald, County Down. He was a founding member of the local credit union and a member of the paramilitary Catholic Ex-Servicemen's Association. It is believed the UDA was responsible.McKittrick, p. 239 29 July: the UDA shot dead a Catholic civilian (Daniel Dunne, aged 19) outside his home, Blackwood Street, off Ormeau Road, Belfast.
August–October 12 August: the body of a Catholic civilian (Francis Wynne, aged 37) was found in an abandoned car on Jaffa Street, Shankill, Belfast. He had been kidnapped, beaten and shot twice in the head by UDA volunteers.The Troubles – A Chronology of the Northern Ireland Conflict: Issue 16 , Glenravel Publications, pg. 69 13 August: the UDA stabbed a Catholic civilian (Thomas Madden, aged 48) to death in a shop doorway on Oldpark Road, Belfast. He was a night-watchman. The man had 110 stab wounds on all parts of his body.McKittrick, p. 247 18 August: the UDA shot dead a Catholic civilian (Philip Faye, aged 21) at his home on Island Street, Belfast. 27 August: the UDA shot dead a Protestant civilian (Thomas Boyd, aged 28) at his home on Carlisle Street, off Crumlin Road, Belfast. 31 August: the UDA shot dead a Catholic civilian (Patrick Devenney, aged 27) on Rugby Road, Belfast. The body was found in a sack. 31 August: a Catholic civilian (Eamon McMahon, aged 19) was found dead in the River Bann at Portadown. He had been tied up and beaten to death by UDA volunteers.McKittrick, p. 259 6 September: UDA volunteers threw a bomb into the home of Republican Labour Party councillor James O'Kane on Cedar Avenue, off Antrim Road, Belfast. A Catholic civilian (Bridget Breen, aged 33) was killed, and five others (including three children) were wounded.McKittrick, p. 260 13 September: the UDA opened fire inside the Catholic-owned Divis Castle Bar on Springfield Road, Belfast; one Catholic civilian, the owner's son (Patrick Doyle, aged 19), was killed.McKittrick, p. 263 13 September: the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) shot dead a UDA volunteer (Robert Warnock, aged 18) during an attempted armed robbery at the Hillfoot Bar, Glen Road, Castlereagh, Belfast. 26 September: UDA volunteers shot dead a Catholic civilian (Paul McCartan, aged 52) near his home on Park Avenue, Strandtown, Belfast. 27 September: a Catholic civilian (James Boyle, aged 17) was found shot dead by Flush River, Elswick Street, near Springfield Road, Belfast. It is believed the UDA was responsible.McKittrick, p. 269 30 September: a Catholic civilian (Francis Lane, aged 23), was found shot dead on waste ground at Glencairn Road, Glencairn, Belfast. It is believed the UDA was responsible.McKittrick, p. 272 4 October: the UDA shot dead James McCartan, aged 21, a Catholic civilian. His body was found on waste ground, beside Connswater River, off Mersey Street, Belfast. 5 October: the UDA detonated a bomb at the Capitol Bar in Belfast, killing a Protestant civilian (John Magee, aged 54). 14 October: a Catholic man (Terence Maguire, aged 23) was found shot dead in an alley off Clandeboye Street, Belfast. It is believed the UDA was responsible. He is listed as a civilian by Sutton, but as a UDR soldier by Lost Lives.McKittrick, p. 280 14 October: two Catholic civilians (Leo John Duffy, aged 45, and Thomas Marron, aged 59) were killed in a gun attack on a Catholic-owned shop, Northern Wine Company, Tate's Avenue, off Lisburn Road, Belfast. It is believed the UDA was responsible.McKittrick, p. 281