TERROR BOSS FREE IN 13 YEARS
Terror boss 'free in 13 years'
By David McKittrick and Liz Walsh
REAL IRA leader Michael McKevitt - jailed for 20 years for his role in directing the terrorist organisation's activities may serve only 13 years, it emerged today.
He is entitled to 25% good behaviour remission on his sentence, which is backdated to the time of his arrest on March 29, 2001.
McKevitt (53) was found guilty of directing terrorism and membership of an illegal organisation at the Special Criminal Court on Wednesday.
Although the court refused him leave to appeal, McKevitt has indicated that he will stage appeals to other courts and possibly to Europe.
In passing sentence, the court's three judges stressed the offences did not relate to the Real IRA bombing of Omagh in 1998, when 29 people were killed. The charges related to a later period.
Speaking after the sentence was handed down, Stanley McCombe, whose wife Anne was among those killed at Omagh, said it "does ease the pain a bit - but not much. We've had our life sentences. There's no remission for us".
A spokesman for the Omagh Victims Civil Action Group welcomed the sentence and said the group's campaign to take a civil action against the bombers would continue.
If the civil action goes ahead, McKevitt, now a convicted terrorist, will have his defence paid for by the British taxpayer through legal aid. McKevitt, who has boycotted the court for some time, claiming he had been denied a fair trial, made a brief appearance yesterday to ask questions about an appeal and legal aid and his period on remand. He was told the sentence would run from when he was arrested in March 2001.
Passing sentence, Mr Justice Johnson said McKevitt played a leading role in the Real IRA.
The court was satisfied that the offences for which Mr McKevitt was convicted were "planned and premeditated" and caused "serious harm to people and property". The three judges had contemplated a 25-year sentence on the directing charge, Mr Justice Johnson said.
The court pointed to the Real IRA's objectives, which were "to destabilise the peace process and to change its status by force".
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