 Early in 1997 INLA inmates within the Maze prison had informed Prison Officers that "they intend, given a chance, to take out the LVF".The Prison Officers' Association said precautions had been put in place to ensure inmates from the two organisations did not come into contact with each other as the factions were not participating in ceasefires at the time, and were violently opposed to one another.Their prisoners, however, were housed in the same prison block – H-Block 6 and, despite any precautions that may have been taken, on 27 December 1997 an INLA team, armed with smuggled pistols and led by McWilliams and including John Kennaway and John "Sonny" Glennon, scaled the roof of A wing and dropped to the forecourt outside H Block 6.