Ernest "Ernie" Elliott (1943/1944 – 6 December 1972), nicknamed "Duke", was a Northern Irish loyalist activist and a leading member of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) during its early days.
Unusually for the generally right-wing UDA, Elliott expressed admiration for socialism and communism, and frequently quoted the words of Che Guevara and Karl Marx.
[3] He became commander of the WDA (which retained an independent existence for a time despite its incorporation into the UDA) in 1972 while Charles Harding Smith was detained in London on gun-running charges, holding the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.
[4] At the time the leader of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) Gusty Spence had begun to develop ideas that loyalism should move to a more left-wing position after discussions with Official IRA members in Crumlin Road Gaol.
[3] However, despite his avowed conversion to Marxism, Elliott remained active in the UDA's campaign of sectarian murder and after his death was identified as having taken part in the torture of Patrick Devaney, a Catholic former British Army soldier who was brutally killed on 30 August 1972.
They added that not only had Elliott done nothing to stop this crime wave, but that he had also reaped financial benefits from activities such as hijacking trucks carrying alcohol and selling the goods in shebeens.
[10] Another UDA member, who was not identified, was discovered in Ainsworth Avenue on the Woodvale Road with serious injuries and under questioning revealed a story of Elliott's death.
The police added that they believed Elliott had actually been killed on the Shankill and that his companion had been released after being assaulted with instructions to relay the story he had told them.
[11] A further story was circulated that Elliott had been killed for being a member of the Ulster Citizens Army, a purported Marxism-supporting loyalist paramilitary group which had been up concocted by the British Intelligence Corps in an ultimately successful attempt to strangle at birth the UVF's move to the left.
[17] The UDA members, dressed in khaki combat jackets, marched as far Royal Avenue in Belfast city centre.