A FORMER Loyalist terrorist who served 11 years in prison, and went on to become a pastor in England on his release, has returned to Northern Ireland to give a series of talks at Church of Ireland venues in Belfast and Lisburn from this weekend.
David “Packie” Hamilton was sentenced in 1978 for terror-related crimes as a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force, but, two years later, he experienced a Christian conversion which he attributes to an elderly woman, Annie Beggs. On release from the Maze prison in 1983, he became a full-time Christian worker with Prison Fellowship, and the charity Teen Challenge, and then became pastor of an independent church in Manchester.
He will be speaking on the theme “How healing comes” at churches including St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast; Lisburn Cathedral, and St George’s, Belfast.
Mr Hamilton is the author of A Cause Worth Living For: My journey out of terrorism (Highland Books, 2008). His talk in St Anne’s Cathedral will be at a service of healing organised by Interdenominational Divine Healing Ministries.
He is now retired.