EVEN for an organisation as controversial as the Orange Order, the appointment to a senior role of a man who killed his wife is a deeply concerning development.
Stephen Fulton was recently made the district master of Cookstown. A former part-time Royal Irish Regiment staff sergeant, he was convicted of the manslaughter in 1999 of his wife Corien Fulton.
He was given a five-year sentence for shooting his wife in the head in the bedroom of their home in Co Tyrone.
A series of horrific episodes has, all too belatedly, placed the scourge of deadly violence against women and girls firmly in the public consciousness.
This includes the murder in December of Lurgan woman Natalie McNally; Stephen McCullagh was charged with her killing last week.
There is also a greater awareness of misogyny and how men should conduct themselves with women. A range of bodies, including schools and sports clubs, are emphasising to young men the central importance of treating women and girls with respect. These are welcome developments, though far more still needs to be done.
In this wider societal context it is therefore staggering that Orange Order members thought it wise to appoint a convicted wife-killer to a prominent position in the institution in Tyrone. Ulster Unionist councillor Mark Glasgow is Fulton's deputy.
Though it appears either unable or entirely unwilling to address them, the order has serious questions to answer over the sort of message it believes Fulton's appointment sends to the community.
Similar issues were raised last summer when a group of men were filmed in an Orange Hall in Dundonald, Co Down chanting about the murder of Michaela McAreavey; the police have now recommended that charges be brought against seven of those involved in the disgraceful episode.
Then, in 2021, Orange Order members took part in child sex offender David Tweed's funeral, compounding the trauma of his victims.
There have also been examples of lodges refusing to expel sectarian murderers from their ranks and honouring loyalist paramilitaries.
It has always been difficult to see how these sorts of behaviours are consistent with an organisation which says it wants to play a positive role in Northern Ireland, much less one which proclaims its Christian virtue.
The Orange Order has a greatly diminished membership but still exercises a disproportionate influence on the north's politics. It is shameful that it is apparently unable to send out as clear a message on violence against women as it is on its fringe views on the NI Protocol.
