37 Facts About Kenny McClinton

Kenneth McClinton was born on 1947 and is a Northern Irish loyalist and self-styled pastor.

Kenny McClinton was a close friend of Loyalist Volunteer Force leader Billy Wright and was the main orator at his funeral following his killing by the Irish National Liberation Army in December 1997.

Kenny McClinton was born in the Shankill Road area of Belfast and raised initially in a Nissen hut.

Kenny McClinton's father, a coalman, was an alcoholic and frequently spent time in prison.

Kenny McClinton's parents' marriage broke up whilst he was a child and as a result of the ensuing poverty his mother moved around a lot with the children whilst McClinton himself spent three years in a Park Lodge State Welfare Home.

Kenny McClinton left school in 1962 and briefly worked as a labourer before enlisting for twelve years in the Merchant Navy.

Kenny McClinton was regularly involved in violence during his time away at sea and left the Merchant Navy with 200 stitches in his body from the knife fights in which he had participated.

Kenny McClinton lasted only the six months basic training in the UDR, feeling that the regiment was too restricted in what it was allowed to do.

Kenny McClinton was released from the UDR after hitting a sergeant over the head with a bottle, during a fight.

Kenny McClinton joined the UDA after leaving the UDR and, with his military background, was added to the ranks of their Ulster Freedom Fighters, its branch responsible for committing violent attacks.

Kenny McClinton became commander of several UFF active service units and through these was involved in a series of what he later admitted were particularly brutal attacks.

Kenny McClinton has refused to reveal any details of these events, despite admitting his involvement in this type of activity, as he has never been charged for them.

However, when he came to trial Kenny McClinton retracted his confession and changed his plea to not guilty, appearing in court naked in what he claimed was a display of contempt for the trial.

Kenny McClinton retained his reputation for violence in the Maze although he took to writing poetry, which generally dealt with the theme of anger at his and other loyalists' incarceration when he felt they were simply supporting British rule through their actions against the IRA.

Kenny McClinton was tried at the High Court, Belfast, before a Diplock court chaired by Lord Justice O'Donnell in February 1979.

Kenny McClinton argued that his confession had been extracted under duress, but after seventeen days the judge found him guilty.

Kenny McClinton spent almost two years initially on solitary confinement for fighting the prison system.

Twenty-six serious injuries were recorded by prison medical officer Joe Martin and Kenny McClinton was given 22 days solitary confinement.

Kenny McClinton announced his conversion, and his renunciation of violence, to fellow inmates the next day, a move which initially earned him scorn and saw his reputation pllummet.

The experiment was abandoned on 24 March 1983 when Kenny McClinton, who had been ostracised by the republican prisoners for ten weeks, was attacked and buckets of boiling water were poured over his back.

Kenny McClinton was who beaten with hammers; and lengths of planed redwood.

Kenny McClinton was taken to the prison hospital by prison officers who had, he believed, left him in a situation where they knew he would be killed by his enemies.

Kenny McClinton spent three months in hospital and received extensive skin grafts and plastic surgery to his arm and back.

Kenny McClinton was released from prison in 1993 and was ordained as a pastor in a Missions Ministry by a Texas-based Christian Ministry presided over by Pastor Jack Hetzel.

Kenny McClinton established Higher Force Challenge, a youth scheme that sought to initiate dialogue and positive interaction between Catholic and Protestant young people.

Kenny McClinton initially returned to the Shankill, where he worked in a voluntary capacity for the Stadium youth project.

Kenny McClinton established his own Ulster American Christian Fellowship to provide funding for his own ministry and preaching engagements in the USA.

Kenny McClinton's wife, Wendy, born and raised in Portadown, desired to move back home.

Kenny McClinton became a regular face at the Drumcree stand-off and was frequently in the company of the Orange Order leaders such as Harold Gracey on site.

Kenny McClinton wrote poetry in praise of Billy Wright for the role he played in resolving the Drumcree conflict.

Kenny McClinton was a candidate for the UIM in the 1996 elections to the Northern Ireland Forum in West Belfast and in Upper Bann for the 1998 Assembly election.

Kenny McClinton became a close associate of Clifford Peoples, a Shankill-based former UVF member who was a leading figure in Families Against Intimidation and Terror.

Kenny McClinton had been close personally to Billy Wright and was the main orator at the Loyalist Volunteer Force leader's funeral following his killing inside the Maze Prison by the Irish National Liberation Army in December 1997.

Kenny McClinton served as the liaison between the LVF and John de Chastelain's Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, and has had the only success in VISIBLE DECOMMISSIONING of terrorist weapons Ulster society has ever witnessed.

Kenny McClinton invited select journalists to watch the destruction of some LVF weapons.

Kenny McClinton was listed along with Peeples, Jackie Mahood and the already murdered Frankie Curry as examples of dissident loyalists that C Company accused the UVF of trying to kill.

In 2005, Kenny McClinton was warned again by police that his name was on a UVF hit list after the organisation killed four men with LVF connections.