An Aughton Pastor whose life was transformed in The Maze prison has played his part in the launch of a new programme to counter the worrying rise in radicalisation of young folk in the UK.

Billy McCurrie of Aughton Park Baptist Church was converted in the prison while serving his sentence for a UVF murder plot.

Last Friday around 100 people, including some 50 young people, attended the UK launch of 'Extreme Dialogue' at a North London school.

It's aiming to reduce the appeal of extremism among young people and offer a positive alternative to the increasing amounts of extremist material and propaganda available on the Internet and social media platforms.


A series of short documentary films tell the personal stories of Canadians and Europeans profoundly affected by violent extremism; a former member of the extreme far-right in Canada, a mother from Calgary whose son was killed fighting for ISIS in Syria, a youth worker and former refugee from Somalia, Billy - a former member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) whose father was killed by the IRA - and a former member of the now banned UK Islamist group al-Muhajiroun.

The films are accompanied by a set of educational resources that can be used with young people in classrooms or community settings and are intended to build resilience to extremism by creating a safe space for debating controversial issues and enhanced critical thinking. They also aim to give teachers the confidence to manage debates about contentious subjects.

Billy was asked to contribute to the project due to his past involvement with terrorism in N.Ireland.

He told QLocal: "Anything that will help to combat the growing rise of extremism is certainly worth while and I am more than willing to tell people that what de-radicalised me was Jesus Christ."