Eddie Sayers
Brigadier of the Ulster Defence Association (1941–2025)
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Eddie Sayers (1941 – 29 November 2025) was a Northern Irish loyalist who served as brigadier of the Ulster Defence Association's (UDA) Mid Ulster Brigade in the 1980s.
Sayers ran a small business in Omagh, County Tyrone, and became involved in unionist politics, joining Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).[1] He stood for the party in Mid Ulster at the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election, taking 4,454 first-preference votes, but narrowly missed election.[2]
In the late 1970s, Sayers left the DUP and became active in the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association (UDA). He was quickly appointed Brigadier of its Mid Ulster Brigade.[1] He stood for election to Omagh District Council in 1981, as an independent unionist, but came bottom of the poll, with only 74 votes.[3] He also ran Borderline Security, which acted as a front for the UDA.[4] Within the UDA he became noted as a close comrade of overall leader Andy Tyrie.[5]
In 1987, the investigative journalist Roger Cook filmed Sayers attempting to extort money from a reporter posing as a businessman. This was broadcast the following year as an episode of The Cook Report, and was considered embarrassing by the UDA, not least because it showed Sayers struggling with basic arithmetic.[6] In the immediate aftermath of the broadcast the UDA announced that Sayers had been removed from his position, although in fact he remained as Brigadier in Mid-Ulster until he was arrested sometime later.[7] He was tried at Belfast Crown Court in 1989, and sentenced to ten years in prison.[8]
While in the Maze prison, Sayers studied to become a legal clerk.[9] He was released in 1999, and gained employment at Taylor & Co solicitors in Belfast.[10] In this role, he worked on legal cases for Johnny Adair, but his employer lost his licence to practice law in 2003, while facing bankruptcy proceedings.[11] In 2005, Sayers was charged with the theft of more than £700,000, and of dishonestly obtaining a mortgage.[12]
In 2006, Sayers was declared personally bankrupt for failing to pay overdue taxes,[9] while, in 2009, he was fined for leaving waste on land in County Fermanagh, despite orders to clean up the site.[13] Sayers died on 29 November 2025.[14]