John Murphy (loyalist)
John Alexander Thompson Murphy was a Northern Irish loyalist. He was one of the three leading men in the "Shankill Butchers", an Ulster Volunteer Force gang.
Early life
Murphy was the second of three sons born to William and Joyce Murphy, the others being William and Lenny Murphy. Outside his paramilitary career, little is known about him, although Martin Dillon, author of a book on the "Shankill Butchers", wrote that John and William acted as muscle for their younger brother when the latter was engaged in petty crime at school.Paramilitary activity
According to Dillon, John Murphy was party to the murder of rival loyalist Noel "Nogi" Shaw on 30 November 1975. After being shot in a loyalist drinking-den, Shaw's body was thrown into a laundry basket and dumped in an alleyway. He played an important role in passing orders to the "Butchers" from his brother Lenny, after the latter's imprisonment in March 1976.Other than being convicted, along with several of the "Butchers", with an assault on a man which occurred on 11 April 1977, John Murphy was never charged with involvement in the activities of the Butchers.