Declan Duffy, also known as Declan "Whacker" Duffy, is a former paramilitary and convicted murderer.
He is originally from Armagh.[1]
He joined the Irish National Liberation Army while still a teenager in the 1980s.[1]
In 1999 he and several members of the INLA took six members of a criminal gang hostage.[1] They held them at the Ballymount industrial estate.[1] One hostage managed to use their mobile phone to call others and in the resulting fight, INLA member Patrick Campbell was stabbed and died.[1]
In 2008 members of the INLA headed by Duffy carried out four attacks on members a gang headed by Freddie Thompson.[2]
In May 2009 he pleaded guilty to membership of the organisation and also dissociated himself from it.[3]
In July 2010 he pleaded guilty to the 1992 murder of Sergeant Michael Newman in Derby.[4]
He was arrested in July 2015 in Dublin in connection with allegations of extortion.[5]
On 5 December 2015 he was arrested in connection with the abduction of Martin Byrne.[6] He was convicted of false imprisonment on 6 June 2016.[6] He had been released on licence in Northern Ireland, but this was revoked after his conviction.[6] He was extradited to the UK in 2020 after his sentence was served in the Republic.[6]