Joe Bratty (died 31 July 1994) was a Northern Irish loyalist activist and a leading member of the Ulster Defence Association's South Belfast Brigade. The head of UDA activity in the area during one of the organisations most active phases Bratty was suspected by security forces of playing a role in, or at least orchestrating, around 15 killings.
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Bratty first came to attention in his native Ballynafeigh (an area of south Belfast) as a teenage street-fighter battling with local Catholic/republican youths and was responsible for altering the Workers' Party of Ireland slogan "Sectarianism Kills Workers" on the side of Havelock House to "Sectarianism Kills Taigs".[1] During his years as a street-fighter, Bratty, who had distinctive oriental shaped eyes, was given the nickname 'Chinky' by his Catholic opponents.[2] Given the proximity of the two communities on the Ormeau Road, Bratty had grown up alongside Catholics and as such had for a number of years been accused of terrorising people he knew to be Catholic with beatings and intimidation before becoming involved in murder around 1990.[3]
Eventually Bratty became head of the UDA in south Belfast. Bratty ordered the attack on the lower Ormeau branch of Sean Graham's bookmakers on 5 February 1992, an act resulting in the death of five men.[4] Bratty was widely believed to have been present along with his right-hand man Raymond Elder during the attack, although the team that Bratty sent was made up of UFF members from east Belfast rather than local members.[5] Another gunman had been provided by west Belfast UFF leader Johnny Adair, who had first conceived of the action.[6] In addition to the Sean Graham massacre, Bratty's unit was thought to be involved in the murders of Catholic Emmanuel Shields, Catholic Michael Gilbride, and Protestant Donna Wilson, who was said to have been beaten to death by Bratty's henchmen for playing music too loudly in the Annadale flats.[7] Bratty was also identified as the getaway driver for the attack in which Teresa Clinton, the wife of a Sinn Féin election candidate, was murdered in her lower Ormeau home.[8]
A notorious figure, Bratty was first targeted in late 1991 by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) when they decided to adopt the tactic of focusing on prominent loyalists rather than the British Army, a strategy similar to that employed by the Irish People's Liberation Organisation. Bratty's Annadale flats home was attacked on the 13th November, but Bratty was not at home and no one was hurt.[9] However, Bratty and Raymond Elder were killed by the PIRA on Sunday, 31 July 1994 in an act seen as one of a number of 'revenge attacks' immediately prior to the ceasefire. The pair had been drinking in a loyalist band hall unaware that two gunmen were waiting outside in a van, and both died at the scene of the attack.[10] The gunmen were armed with AK-47 assault rifles.[11] The van was pursued by a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) car that was in the area but eventually the chase was stopped when the car was impeded by a crowd of republicans.[12][13]
In the short-term the murder of Bratty, who was a notorious hate figure amongst south Belfast Catholics, was greeted as a triumph even by some normally opposed to violence.[14] However the immediate aftermath saw three Catholics killed by the UDA in separate attacks with these sparking a series of PIRA bomb attacks on loyalists bars, thus bringing about a temporary return to the spiral of tit-for-tat killing.[15] Indeed the killings of Bratty and Elder, along with that of Ulster Democratic Party leader Ray Smallwoods earlier the same month, played a central role in delaying the Combined Loyalist Military Command ceasefire. The CLMC had been considering declaring a ceasefire following the Loughinisland massacre but reversed their decision after these three killings as they argued any cessation of violence would have been seen by the PIRA as a sign of weakness.[16] Certain hardline elements with the UDA would later claim that Bratty's killing had been sanctioned by members of the CLMC who were eager to see a ceasefire as Bratty had been an outspoken opponent of the initiative. The allegations were never proven however.[17]
Pastor Kenny McClinton, a dissident former UFF gunman who was variously associated with the Ulster Independence Movement, the Loyalist Volunteer Force and the Orange Volunteers, even suggested in a pamphlet that Bratty's killing had been arranged by the Progressive Unionist Party. This was part of a wider theme in McClinton's writing arguing that the PUP was a front for MI5 activity.[18]
In 2007, a banner honoring Bratty during Twelfth celebrations by members of the Orange Order was met by outrage from the relatives of those Bratty is alleged to have killed.[19]
Cusack, Jim & McDonald, Henry (1997). UVF. Dublin: Poolbeg. ISBN 1853716871.
Cusack, Jim & McDonald, Henry (2004). UDA: Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror. Dublin: Penguin Ireland. ISBN 1844880206.
Lister, David & Jordan, Hugh (2004). Mad Dog: The Rise and Fall of Johnny Adair and C Company. Edinburgh: Mainstream. ISBN 1840188901.
Taylor, Peter (2000). Loyalists. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747545197.