30 YEARS FOR REAL IRA TRIO
30 years for Real IRA trio
THREE members of the Real IRA were last night beginning 30-year jail sentences for plotting a bombing campaign. The men - trapped trying to buy arms in an undercover MI5 sting last year - were "at or near the heart" of the organisation that carried out the Omagh bombing, Woolwich Crown Court in London heard.
Sentencing Fintan Paul O'Farrell (39), Declan John Rafferty (42), and Michael Christopher McDonald (44), all from Co Louth, Mr Justice Astill said: "Whatever justification you can find in your hearts and minds for the killing and maiming, it's the duty of these courts to reflect the public revulsion for the suffering and grief you impose on the innocent."
All three pleaded guilty last Thursday to conspiracy to cause an explosion in the UK or Republic of Ireland and trying to obtain weapons and explosives.
They were arrested last July following an elaborate six months operation led by MI5.
As the sentences were handed down, the defendants waved to friends and family in the public gallery.
The three had been caught trying to obtain "state sponsorship" for the Real IRA from Iraq.
The court heard how they presented a shopping list of guns, grenades, missiles and explosives to agents they believed to be from the Iraqi government.
The list included 5,000kg of plastic explosive, 2,000 detonators, 200 rocket-propelled grenades and 500 handguns.
The group were also expecting US$1 million in cash from the "Iraqi" government representatives.
They also sought funding for the Real IRA from Iraq at a series of meetings at secret locations in Eastern Europe in the first half of 2001.
But the men they were dealing with were not Iraqi agents but MI5 spies who were tape recording every word.
The three were arrested in Slovakia on July 5 last year.
They were later extradited to Britain and had been due to stand trial but, amid heightened security at Woolwich Crown Court last Thursday, they dramatically changed their pleas.
Yesterday their barristers urged the judge to take into account their pleas, which were "unprecedented" for Irish republicans facing trial in Britain.
The defence also argued that the three were not necessarily central to Real IRA operations.
But the judge rejected the arguments, telling the men they "took a decision" to assist in obtaining the means to kill and to maim.
He added: "That decision was made in the wake of the horrific results of the bomb in Omagh.
"What you agreed to do, you must have realised would have led to similar acts because that's the aim and the object of the organisation you serve."
The judge acknowledged their guilty pleas but added: "The reality was that the evidence against you was so compelling that you had no choice."
In addition to the 30 years for conspiracy to cause explosions, the three were sentenced to concurrent 12-year terms for each of several offences under the Terrorism Act.
The court heard details of the sting carried out by MI5 in which Michael McDonald was taped boasting of the Real IRA's powers.
Richard Horwell, prosecuting, told the court that McDonald had said at a secret meeting that they would not give up until the British left Ireland for good.
McDonald is said to have claimed: "They are still occupying our country. They have not left and until they have left the thing goes on.
"It does not stop. Whether I die or get jailed, whatever. It doesn't make any difference. There's plenty of people to continue - plenty. There's no problem.
"We will continue on."
THREE members of the Real IRA were last night beginning 30-year jail sentences for plotting a bombing campaign. The men - trapped trying to buy arms in an undercover MI5 sting last year - were "at or near the heart" of the organisation that carried out the Omagh bombing, Woolwich Crown Court in London heard.
Sentencing Fintan Paul O'Farrell (39), Declan John Rafferty (42), and Michael Christopher McDonald (44), all from Co Louth, Mr Justice Astill said: "Whatever justification you can find in your hearts and minds for the killing and maiming, it's the duty of these courts to reflect the public revulsion for the suffering and grief you impose on the innocent."
All three pleaded guilty last Thursday to conspiracy to cause an explosion in the UK or Republic of Ireland and trying to obtain weapons and explosives.
They were arrested last July following an elaborate six months operation led by MI5.
As the sentences were handed down, the defendants waved to friends and family in the public gallery.
The three had been caught trying to obtain "state sponsorship" for the Real IRA from Iraq.
The court heard how they presented a shopping list of guns, grenades, missiles and explosives to agents they believed to be from the Iraqi government.
The list included 5,000kg of plastic explosive, 2,000 detonators, 200 rocket-propelled grenades and 500 handguns.
The group were also expecting US$1 million in cash from the "Iraqi" government representatives.
They also sought funding for the Real IRA from Iraq at a series of meetings at secret locations in Eastern Europe in the first half of 2001.
But the men they were dealing with were not Iraqi agents but MI5 spies who were tape recording every word.
The three were arrested in Slovakia on July 5 last year.
They were later extradited to Britain and had been due to stand trial but, amid heightened security at Woolwich Crown Court last Thursday, they dramatically changed their pleas.
Yesterday their barristers urged the judge to take into account their pleas, which were "unprecedented" for Irish republicans facing trial in Britain.
The defence also argued that the three were not necessarily central to Real IRA operations.
But the judge rejected the arguments, telling the men they "took a decision" to assist in obtaining the means to kill and to maim.
He added: "That decision was made in the wake of the horrific results of the bomb in Omagh.
"What you agreed to do, you must have realised would have led to similar acts because that's the aim and the object of the organisation you serve."
The judge acknowledged their guilty pleas but added: "The reality was that the evidence against you was so compelling that you had no choice."
In addition to the 30 years for conspiracy to cause explosions, the three were sentenced to concurrent 12-year terms for each of several offences under the Terrorism Act.
The court heard details of the sting carried out by MI5 in which Michael McDonald was taped boasting of the Real IRA's powers.
Richard Horwell, prosecuting, told the court that McDonald had said at a secret meeting that they would not give up until the British left Ireland for good.
McDonald is said to have claimed: "They are still occupying our country. They have not left and until they have left the thing goes on.
"It does not stop. Whether I die or get jailed, whatever. It doesn't make any difference. There's plenty of people to continue - plenty. There's no problem.
"We will continue on."
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0552
Published Date: 08-May-02
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