Davy Fogel

Who is Davy Fogel?

David "Davy" Fogel also known as "Big Dave", was a former loyalist and a leading member of the loyalist vigilante Woodvale Defence Association which later merged with other groups becoming the Ulster Defence Association. Born in London, Fogel was a former British soldier who had served in Northern Ireland before marrying a local Belfast woman and settling down with his family in the Woodvale area of west Belfast. In June 1970 at a pigeon fanciers' club, he militarised the Woodvale Defence Association and trained them as a military unit. He continued to instruct the new UDA recruits in military tactics and gave lectures on Army and police interrogation methods and urban guerilla fighting.

He was the second-in-command to the WDA's leader and the UDA's first commander, Charles Harding Smith. Fogel was the leader of the UDA's B Company, 2nd Battalion, West Belfast Brigade and enjoyed much prestige in 1972, having erected the first UDA street barricades and roadblocks in Woodvale. He left the organisation early in 1973 after he was ousted from power during an internal feud.