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Seven men caught in an MI5 wiretapping operation against the Continuity IRA today received prison terms totaling 33 years.
The defendants pleaded guilty in Belfast Crown Court in January this year to charges stemming from an MI5 surveillance sting operation against Continuity IRA in Newry nearly six years ago.
Patrick Joseph ‘Mooch’ Blair, 65, of Lissara Heights, Warrenpoint, Co Down; Joseph Matthew Lynch, 79, of Beechgrove Avenue, Weston, Co Limerick; Liam Hannaway, 50, of White Rise, Dunmurry in West Belfast; John Sheehy, 36, of Erskine Street, Newry and Colin Patrick Winters, 49, of Ardcarn Park, Newry, all pleaded guilty to the charges of belonging or professing to belong to an outlaw organization, providing training with weapons and explosives, conspiring to possess explosives, firearms, and ammunition intended to endanger life.
They also admitted conspiracy to intentionally possess explosives, firearms and ammunition, in addition to preparing acts of terrorism.
Blair, Hannaway, and Winters also admitted to gathering information that is likely to be of use to terrorists.
Sheehy further pleaded guilty to attending a meeting in Ardcarn Park for the purpose of training terrorists.
Winters also admitted to allowing his home in Ardcarn Park to be used for the purposes of a terrorist gathering.
The court previously heard that Winters had passed away in August.
In addition to admitting he received weapons training, Lynch pleaded guilty to two counts of attending a meeting for terrorist purposes.
Seamus Morgan, 64, of Barcroft Park, Newry; Kevin John Paul Heaney, 47, of Blackstaff Mews, Springfield Road in West Belfast and Terence Marks, 60, of Parkhead Crescent, Newry, all pleaded guilty to belonging to or professing to belong to an outlawed organization.
Marks also admitted an additional charge of receiving training in the manufacture or use of explosives for terrorism.
All the crimes took place on dates between August 11, 2014 and November 11, 2014.
‘Mooch’ Blair and Hannaway received five years in prison today and were also found to pose a danger to the public in the future due to their previous terrorism convictions.
In sentencing the couple, Judge Colton said that neither of them had “disavowed their involvement in the dissident Republican activity.”
The chief judge said it was apparent from the recordings that both men played “important and leadership roles” in those IRA Continuity meetings.
He told the two-hour sentencing hearing that after serving five years in jail, the Parole Commissioners will decide if it is safe to return them to the community.
Judge Colton told the Belfast Crown Court that the content of the discussions, which included plots to kill and make bombs, was “bleak and depressing reading”.
He added: “Very well, right thinkers and law-abiding citizens believe that the days of shootings, murders and explosions are behind us.”
Although the defendants faced only conspiracy charges, Judge Colton said the plots had been “thwarted” when police raided the meeting house in Newry’s Ardcarn Park on November 10, 2014.
The court heard today that the secret recordings revealed:
- a plot to attack a high-ranking prison governor while walking through Co Down;
- a plot to attack specific police officers;
- home burglary plots for cash and firearms in legal possession;
- a plot to steal sulfur from a factory in Dublin to make explosives;
- a plot to buy a silencer for £ 2,000 for an automatic pistol which ‘Mooch’ Blair had in his possession;
- frustrations over the lack of weapons, ammunition, low membership and finances to finance their terrorist campaign;
- training people in the manufacture of homemade bombs and the use of firearms.
In the prosecution’s case, ‘Mooch’ Blair was the leader of the Continuity IRA, while Hannaway was its number two.
The prosecution said Lynch was ranked third in the hierarchy of Continuity IRA leaders.
Unlike Blair and Hannaway, Judge Colton said Lynch had cut all ties to dissident Republican activity, citing the defendant as telling his defense attorney: “It’s all over for me.”
The judge said that, like Hannaway and Blair, Lynch had pleaded guilty to “serious and specified” crimes, but did not believe he would pose a danger to the public in the future.
Lynch received a sentence of six and a half years, with three years and three months in custody and the remainder on supervised leave upon release.
Sheehy, who traveled from her home in Listowel, Co Kerry, to receive instructions on how to make bombs, received a six-year sentence, half of which will be spent in custody and the other half on leave.
Marks, who received instructions on the use of explosives for terrorist purposes, was told that he would serve two years in prison, followed by two years on leave.
Heaney received a three-and-a-half-year sentence, split equally between custody and probation.
Morgan, who was jailed in 1975 for causing an explosion at the Ardmore Hotel in Newry, was told he would serve 18 months in custody, followed by 18 months on leave.
All the defendants were subject to anti-terrorism notifications, ranging from 10 years to 30 years.
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