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Loyalist bomber and Loughlinisland massacre suspect led part of Orange Order parade
Gorman McMullan (71) is a flag carrier in the well-known UVF Regimental Band from east Belfast.
Gormy McMullan a notorious loyalist terrorist who featured in an RTÉ documentary about the murder of six Catholics during the Troubles, was out marching with the East Belfast band yesterday. McMullan, a serial jailbird was a leading suspect in the shocking Loughinisland massacre, is to tie the knot with stunning Asian beauty Bannapon Nuch Jathasan.
Interior of O'Toole's bar in Loughinisland the morning after the UVF shot dead 6 people.
A convicted loyalist bomber and major suspect in the shocking Loughinisland massacre stepped out in the summer sunshine on Saturday to lead part of the largest Orange Order parade in Northern Ireland, the Sunday World can reveal.
Gorman McMullan (71) is a flag carrier in the well-known UVF Regimental Band from east Belfast.
And despite his age, McMullan was one of the front runners in the colour party as the khaki-clad marching men made their way into Belfast city centre to meet up with other lodges and bands.
McMullan and his mates appeared to revel in the applause they drew from onlookers who cheered loudly as the bandsmen passed by.
He had an air of respectability about him as he kept perfect step on his seven-mile journey through the streets of the city over the weekend.
Interior of O'Toole's bar in Loughinisland the morning after the UVF shot dead 6 people.
He told the Sunday World: 'I've had a great day. It's half-time, I've had a wee drink and we are about to start our journey home.'
But it was clear that very few of those standing on the sidelines had any idea that the flag-carrying pensioner has in fact a lengthy loyalist paramilitary past.
And that he was still a suspect in one of the worst atrocities of the entire Troubles.
Six men died when the UVF carried out a machine-gun attack on the Heights Bar in the sleepy Catholic village of Loughinisalnd in rural Co Down. Five others were seriously wounded.
Shortly after 10pm on June 18, 1994, two UVF gunmen walked into the packed pub and shouted 'Fenian bastards' before opening fire on the customers who were watching Ireland playing in the World Cup.
The dead were Adrian Rogan (34), Daniel McCreanor (59), Eamon Byrne (59), Patrick O'Hare (35), Barney Green (87) and Malcolm Jenkinson (53).
As the gunmen fled to their red Triumph Acclaim car, they were heard to be laughing at the bloody handiwork they left back in the bar.
Gormy McMullan is still suspected of being the getaway driver of the vehicle, which was found abandoned in a field between Crossgar and Ballynahinch the following day.
No Stone Unturned – an award-winning documentary by Alex Gibney on the atrocity – names McMullan as the 41-year-old getaway driver.
Gormy McMullan a notorious loyalist terrorist.
News in 90 Seconds - Monday July 14th
And a bestselling book Shooting Crows by investigative reporter Trevor Birnie does the same.
McMullan was one of several suspects arrested and questioned after the attack, but he was never charged.
Decked out in a replica World War I army uniform complete with woollen tunic and puttee leg wraps, Gormy – as McMullan is known in loyalist circles – appeared to weaken in the searing heat as the parade pulled up outside Belfast City Hall for a break.
'Our band's uniform is identical to what the men wore in World War One,' said McMullan. And the veteran loyalist added: 'We even wear long johns underwear, so we are melted in the heat.'
It's exactly a year ago this week since the Sunday World revealed that former ladies man McMullan had decided to tie the knot with Asian beauty, Bannapon Nuch Jathasan. A tiler by trade and a well-known singer in the loyalist pubs and clubs in east Belfast, McMullan was inundated with messages of congratulations and goodwill.
It is understood the couple met two years ago during one of Gormy's many trips to Pattaya in Thailand. He is known to enjoy extended holidays to the tourist hotspots of Thailand and Vietnam. And he took to Facebook to officially announce his engagement.
And when the Sunday World contacted him days later to pass on our regards, Gormy said: 'Aye dead on. Thanks very much.'
He also remained tight-lipped regarding exactly where the couple planned to live after they tie the knot.
On Saturday, Belfast businessman Jim Murtagh, who has known McMullan from childhood, told us: 'I'm not 100 percent sure, but I think Gormy and Bam Bam got married recently. I know, she refers to him as her husband,'
Originally from the Clarawood estate in east Belfast, McMullan first came to the attention of the authorities shortly after the Troubles erupted in August 1969.
At that time, he was a member of the ruthless loyalist paramilitary group the Red Hand Commando. And he was caught 'red-handed' blowing up the Catholic-owned Hillfoot Bar on the edge of the Braniel estate. McMullan was sent down for eight years.
Behind bars, McMullan built up a close relationship with members of the notorious Shankill Butchers murder gang, including its psycho leader Lenny Murphy.
In a BBC TV documentary called Loyalists, McMullan told veteran journalist Peter Taylor he believed Lenny Murphy and his mates in the Shankill Butchers were 'a decent bunch of lads'.
On his release from prison, McMullan maintained his new-found links with the Shankill Road UVF and he took part in and armed robbery at a meat plant in the Woodvale area. But he was caught again and this time he went down for five years.
In 1985, McMullan was scooped at the ferry port of Stranraer.
Travelling to Scotland to see his beloved Rangers, he refused to fill in a Disembarkation Card – a requirement under the Prevention of Terrorism Act – and he was arrested.
An associate who was with him was fined £100. But McMullan was sent to Barlinnie Prison for 30 days.
In a recent exchange with the Sunday World, McMullan declined to discuss his paramilitary past.
'I'm expecting big things from the Rangers this season,' was all he said.
When we challenged Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland secretary, the Reverend Mervyn Gibson, about people with a paramilitary criminal past marching in Orange Order parades, he told us: 'If they have gone to prison and paid their debt to society, then there is nothing to stop them.'
