MCKEVITT WIFE MAY FACE TERROR CHARGES
McKevitt wife may face terror charges
BY RICHARD SHERRIF
r.sherriff@newsletter.co.uk
THE SISTER of hunger striker Bobby Sands could face prosecution north and south of the border following claims in court that she was a high-ranking player in the Real IRA.
Bernadette Sands McKevittt, often seen as the First Lady of the Republican movement, was in Dublin this week when the Special Criminal Court jailed her husband, Michael, for 20 years for his role in directing terrorism through the RIRA, the terror group behind the Omagh bomb atrocity.
Following the revelation in court by key witness David Rupert that Sands McKevitt was third in a chain of command of republicans loyal to the RIRA, victims and families bereaved at Omagh say they will try to include the mother of three in the civil prosecution they intend to bring.
Despite the case against McKevitt post-dating the Omagh blast, survivors and relatives are convinced that McKevitt was one of the key figures behind the bomb.
The couple may face action from the Irish Criminal Assets Bureau which, like the more recently established Assets Recovery Agency in Northern Ireland, was established to investigate and, where possible, seize the proceeds of criminal activity.
Having befriended McKevitt, Mr Rupert provided key evidence in the case against the former IRA quartermaster, including an allegation that McKevitt's wife was the third person in the chain of command behind her husband and Liam Campbell, both of whom have been served with writs by the Omagh families.
In March, 2001, she and McKevitt were arrested in the Republic and questioned about paramilitary activity.
Though both have strenuously denied any involvement in the Omagh bombing, they were forced out of business in Dundalk shortly after the attack which killed 29 people and two unborn children in August, 1998.
Sands McKevitt has bitterly attacked what she sees as Sinn Fein/IRA capitulation over the Good Friday Agreement and is a founder-member of the 32-County Sovereignty Committee, the political wing of the Real IRA.
Interviewed before the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement, she said anything other than a British withdrawal from Northern Ireland was doomed to failure and accused Gerry Adams and the Sinn Fein leadership of selling out her hunger striker brother Bobby's ideals.
"They negotiated with the unionists about making peace with them when, in actual fact, they should have been negotiating with the British for a withdrawal," she said.
"The settlement is all 'perhaps' and 'maybe' but nothing definite.
"You can't leave anything up to the British.
"Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness can wrap themselves in a green flag and sing A Nation Once Again but it's still a partitionist settlement.
"Anything that has a hint of British rule in Ireland will always be resisted," she added.
"It might not be me but it's going to be someone."
BY RICHARD SHERRIF
r.sherriff@newsletter.co.uk
THE SISTER of hunger striker Bobby Sands could face prosecution north and south of the border following claims in court that she was a high-ranking player in the Real IRA.
Bernadette Sands McKevittt, often seen as the First Lady of the Republican movement, was in Dublin this week when the Special Criminal Court jailed her husband, Michael, for 20 years for his role in directing terrorism through the RIRA, the terror group behind the Omagh bomb atrocity.
Following the revelation in court by key witness David Rupert that Sands McKevitt was third in a chain of command of republicans loyal to the RIRA, victims and families bereaved at Omagh say they will try to include the mother of three in the civil prosecution they intend to bring.
Despite the case against McKevitt post-dating the Omagh blast, survivors and relatives are convinced that McKevitt was one of the key figures behind the bomb.
The couple may face action from the Irish Criminal Assets Bureau which, like the more recently established Assets Recovery Agency in Northern Ireland, was established to investigate and, where possible, seize the proceeds of criminal activity.
Having befriended McKevitt, Mr Rupert provided key evidence in the case against the former IRA quartermaster, including an allegation that McKevitt's wife was the third person in the chain of command behind her husband and Liam Campbell, both of whom have been served with writs by the Omagh families.
In March, 2001, she and McKevitt were arrested in the Republic and questioned about paramilitary activity.
Though both have strenuously denied any involvement in the Omagh bombing, they were forced out of business in Dundalk shortly after the attack which killed 29 people and two unborn children in August, 1998.
Sands McKevitt has bitterly attacked what she sees as Sinn Fein/IRA capitulation over the Good Friday Agreement and is a founder-member of the 32-County Sovereignty Committee, the political wing of the Real IRA.
Interviewed before the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement, she said anything other than a British withdrawal from Northern Ireland was doomed to failure and accused Gerry Adams and the Sinn Fein leadership of selling out her hunger striker brother Bobby's ideals.
"They negotiated with the unionists about making peace with them when, in actual fact, they should have been negotiating with the British for a withdrawal," she said.
"The settlement is all 'perhaps' and 'maybe' but nothing definite.
"You can't leave anything up to the British.
"Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness can wrap themselves in a green flag and sing A Nation Once Again but it's still a partitionist settlement.
"Anything that has a hint of British rule in Ireland will always be resisted," she added.
"It might not be me but it's going to be someone."
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/476
Published Date: 09-Aug-03
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