Editing Michael Stone (Ulster loyalist)

{{Villain Infobox
|image = Michael_Stone_UDA.jpg
|fullname = Michael Stone
|origin = Birmingham, U.K.
|occupation = Loyalist paramilitary
|skills = Ruthlessness
|hobby = Painting
|goals = Defeat Irish republicanism
|crimes = [[Terrorism]]<br>Mass [[murder]]<br>Grevious bodily harm<br>[[Vandalism]]
|type of villain = Terrorist}}
{{Quote|If I was to say sorry, I believe it would fall on deaf ears. I would be called a hypocrite. Those operations were military operations. I do not regret any fatalities that occurred.|Stone defending his actions at the Milltown Cemetery massacre.}}
'''Michael Stone''' (born 2 April 1955) is a former member of the [[Ulster Defence Association]], a Northern Irish terrorist organization dedicated to the cause of Ulster loyalism - opposition to Northern Ireland leaving the United Kingdom and becoming part of the Republic of Ireland. In 1988 he was convicted of murdering three Irish republicans during a terrorist attack at Milltown Cemetery, Belfast, and of murdering three Catholic civilians on previous occasions. He was released on licence in 2000 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, but was later returned to prison in 2008 for plotting to murder republican politicians Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. 

==Biography==
Stone was born in Birmingham, England, in 1955, but was raised in Northern Ireland by Protestant parents. He joined the Army Cadet Force when he was 14 and received basic firearms training, and was expelled from school for fighting when he was 15, leaving with no qualifications. 

In 1970 Stone helped to establish a street gang in Braniel which regularly clashed with rival gangs using knives. In 1971 he joined a youth gang associated with the Ulster Defence Association and took part in [[sectarianism|sectarian]] activities, which usually consisted of brutalizing Catholics and vandalising buildings in Catholic districts. In 1972 Stone met [[Tommy Herron]], the head of the UDA's East Belfast Brigade, who offered him the chance to join the UDA. According to Stone, he and three friends met up with Herron, who gave them a German shepherd dog and told them to play with it. After they had played with the dog for half an hour, Herron gave each of them a gun and ordered them to shoot it. Stone's friends hesitated, but Stone shot the dog and was praised by Herron for his ruthlessness. Herron inducted Stone into the UDA the next week and personally trained him in weapons use for the next few months. 

Stone's early UDA activity was confined to stealing to aid the UDA. He was jailed for six months in 1972 for stealing guns and ammunition to supply to UDA members and was returned to prison soon after his release for stealing a car. While Stone was in prison, Tommy Herron was murdered by enemies and Stone's branch of the UDA suspended activity. As a result, Stone left the UDA and joined the [[Red Hand Commando]] group under [[John McKeague]]. He also joined [[Tara]], a far-right group led by [[William McGrath]], and was a close friend of [[Ulster Volunteer Force]] commander [[John Bingham]]. Stone and Bingham collaborated in fundraising drives for the UVF and RHC, with Stone claiming that they met with Mossad agents who wished to assist the UVF. However, Stone left the RHC because they were not involved enough in direct military activity. 

In 1984 Stone re-joined the UDA. Feeling he was too well-known in his local area to continue operating in the East Belfast Brigade, he transferred to [[John McMichael]]'s South Belfast Brigade. McMichael placed Stone in a team whose purpose was to kill people on McMichael's personal hit list. Stone spent several days trailing republican politician Owen Carron in preparation to kill him, but was forced to abandon the hit at the last second after being tipped off that the police were aware of his plan. In November 1984 Stone committed his first murder when he gunned down Patrick Brady, a Catholic who he wrongly believed to be a member of the [[Irish Republican Army]]. He murdered at least two other Catholics, Kevin McPolin and Dermot Hackett, in 1985 and 1987. 

In March 1988, Stone was informed by an inside source that the funeral of the [[Gibraltar Three]] - three IRA terrorists who were shot dead by the Special Air Service while planning an attack in Gibraltar - would have minimal security force presence due to protests by republicans. Stone decided to attack the funeral in retaliation for the bombing of a Remembrance Sunday ceremony by the IRA the previous year. With the permission of the UDA leadership, Stone obtained a Browning High-Power 9mm pistol, a Ruger .357 magnum revolver and seven grenades for use in the attack. On 16 March, Stone entered the funeral at the Milltown Cemetery and waited until the third coffin was lowered into the ground, at which point he threw two grenades towards the republican plot. 60 people were injured by shrapnel from the explosions. Stone then fled the cemetery and ran towards the motorway, pursued by a large crowd of mourners. He periodically stopped to throw grenades and shoot at his pursuers, killing civilians Thomas McErlean and John Murray and IRA volunteer Kevin Brady. 

However, just before Stone would have reached the hard shoulder, where his getaway car was waiting, the getaway driver panicked and drove away. Out of ammunition and with nowhere else to go, Stone ran out onto the motorway and began trying to flag down cars. He was soon caught by his pursuers and beaten until a group of armed police officers arrived and broke up the crowd before arresting Stone. The UDA soon issued a statement falsely claiming that Stone was not a member of the organization, while Stone claimed that he had been tipped off to the lack of security forces and supplied with weapons by the Royal Ulster Constabulary. He also confessed to the murders of Patrick Brady, Kevin McPolin and Dermot Hackett, although he would later claim that Hackett was actually killed by another loyalist who he had been trying to protect. He was convicted of six murders and sentenced to a total of 684 years in prison. He served 13 years before being released on licence under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, an agreement between the British government and republican and loyalist leadership which ended the Northern Irish conflict. 

Despite the end of the conflict, Stone continued his terrorist activities. On 24 November 2006 he approached the Northern Irish Parliament building and scrawled graffiti on the wall accusing the republican party Sinn Fein of being "IRA murderers". He then attempted to enter the building but was soon apprehended by three security guards, who trapped him in a revolving door. Stone managed to injure all three guards by slashing them with a knife before being subdued and arrested. On his person were found a Beretta pistol and a homemade explosive device, in addition to the knife. Eight more bombs were found in a bag Stone had placed elsewhere on the premises.

Stone was charged with plotting to kill Sinn Fein leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, and with inflicting grievous bodily harm on the guards who apprehended him. His defence was that the planned attack had been "performance art" and was not intended to endanger anybody. Stone was eventually found guilty in November 2008 and sentenced to 16 years in prison. An appeals court later ordered Stone to serve a further 18 years in prison for the Milltown Cemetery massacre. He was paroled in 2021. 
[[Category:List]]
[[Category:Male]]
[[Category:Modern Villains]]
[[Category:Living Villains]]
[[Category:United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Mass Murderers]]
[[Category:Terrorists]]
[[Category:Imprisoned]]
[[Category:Liars]]
[[Category:Thief]]
[[Category:Animal Cruelty]]
[[Category:Vandals]]
[[Category:Artistic]]
[[Category:Fanatics]]
[[Category:Anti-Catholic]]
[[Category:Christianity]]
[[Category:Criminals]]
[[Category:Thugs]]