5 January 2006 Edition

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LVF man stabbed to death in Scotland

Lindsay Robb - Former PUP man killed by 'ex-British soldier'

The killing of former UVF leader Lindsay Robb has lead to speculation about who was responsible and whether unionist paramilitaries are on the brink of yet another bloodletting feud.

It has been reported that the man who carried out the killing is a former member of the British Army who served in the Six Counties.

Robb was stabbed to death killed in a frenzied attack as he sat in his car outside a shop in the Ruchazie Estate in the Eastend of Glasgow, Scotland on Saturday 31 December.

A former Progressive Unionist Party negotiator Robb was convicted of procuring guns for the UVF in Scotland but later joined the Billy Wright-led LVF faction.

In July 1995 Robb was sentenced to ten years in prison after plotting to smuggle guns from Scotland to the Six Counties on behalf of the UVF but in 1996 he chose to side with Billy Wright when he was expelled from the UVF and established the LVF.

In April 1997 the 38-year-old was transferred from Barlinne Prison in Scotland to the H-Blocks and became the first LVF prisoner to be released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

Robb set up home in Airdrie after his release from Maghaberry Prison in 1999 where he was apparently working in the construction business, but sources have linked the former PUP negotiator to Glasgow's illegal drugs trade. Robb is said to have used his contacts in Scotland to supply the LVF with cannabis, cocaine and ecstasy.

Robb gained notoriety within the nationalist community when he took part in a conspiracy to frame Lurgan man Colin Duffy for the 1993 killing of UDR soldier John Lyness.

Robb gave evidence, anonymously, against Duffy telling the court that he saw Duffy running away from the scene after Lyness was shot.

It was later uncovered, and Robb admitted, that the RUC Special Branch had approached UVF commanders in Portadown and asked them to provide a, "clean witness", who could claim Colin Duffy was seen in the vicinity at the time Lyness was killed.

Robb claimed he was approached by a senior member of the Mid-Ulster UVF and asked to give evidence against Duffy.

Duffy's conviction was quashed a few years later when the UVF's 'clean witness' was caught gun running in Scotland for the UVF.


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