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Real IRA bombers were planning fourth attack national |
miscellaneous |
news report
 Wednesday April 09, 2003 04:22 by Fintan
 What motivates these dickheads apart from rage? MEMBERS of a Real IRA car bombing team behind explosions at BBC Television Centre and on a London high street were caught as the gang prepared a further attack, police said yesterday. As three gang members were convicted at the Old Bailey, police said they suspected that a car and bombing equipment found at their farmhouse base would have been used for the new attack. The bomb, which could have been aimed at Christmas shoppers, would have been the fourth in a campaign that also included an attack on the centre of Birmingham on a Saturday evening. Robert Hulme, 23, his brother Aiden, 26, and Noel Maguire, 34, will be sentenced today with James McCormack, 34, and John Hannan, 19, who had pleaded guilty to terrorist offences. They all face lengthy prison sentences. The Real IRA, a splinter group opposed to the Ulster peace process, launched its first attacks in 2000, targeting Hammersmith Bridge, a railway line in West London and the headquarters of MI6. The five were part of a second unit that left a taxi packed with a 50lb bomb outside the BBC studios in March 2001. One man was slightly injured. In August 2001 a 100lb bomb was left in a Saab car close to a packed public house in Ealing, West London. The bomb blew up while police were searching for it and seven people were injured. The third bomb was planted in Birmingham in November 2001. Three policemen were covered in the home-made explosive when the bomb partly detonated. The men facing sentence are described by police as “footsoldiers” in the campaign. Two other members of the gang have never been identified and the commanders remain safe across the Irish Sea. Three of the five come from the republican border area around Dundalk, Co Louth. Damien Hulme, the father of the brothers, was once kidnapped by the Provisional IRA on suspicion of being an informer. Police later found a “Green Book”, the Provisionals’ rule book, at his home. |
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Comments (9 of 9)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9Brendan Behan once asked "How do you know a terrorist? He's the one with the small bomb."
It is laughable that these men were sent down for so long for such small firecracker bombs when the Government that sentenced them supported the murder of hundreds of civilians in urban areas by cluster bombs. By a government that will support the shelling of the Palestine Hotel with the murder of journalists they want to chase out of Baghdad so they can carry on with wholesale civilian slaughter.
It is hipocracy in the extreme and don't think the Irish People will miss this example of duplicity and double standards.
James Mackenna, you're a complete troll and a menace to society if you think that the RIRA actually have a point.
Fintan article shows how dangerous irish people are. If I was in England, I'd be very wary of Irish people, and watch them closely too. You can't be too careful look at the Birmingham 6, Guildford 4. lock em up and throw away the key. They deserve to be locked up for just being Irish.
N. Dempsey, you're a complete moron who can't tell the difference between pointing out a relative injustice and supporting one or other side.
Please point to the line where JMcK states that RIRA have a point?
the real issue here is not whether you support the real ira (i dont) but whether you think a miscarriage of justice has taken place.
the evidence against the 3 of them was of a very flimsy circumstantial nature.
one of them in particular was educationally sub-normal and required assistance to understand what was going on in court. this aspect smacks of texas style justice.
Maybe that was why he was in the RIRA, if he was in the RIRA.
come on now, you are not advancing any political cause by trying to score cheap points at the expense of the disabled.
you would do better to criticise the rira for their lack of any clear political perspective.
I got this on the Irish Left list.
**********************************
IRISH FREEDOM COMMITTEE® NEWSLIST
http://www.irishfreedomcommittee.net
-----------------------------
Subject: “Belmarsh Five” Trial - GUILTY VERDICTS
Date: 04 09 03
The Irish Freedom Committee regrets to inform our subscribers that
Guilty verdicts have just been returned in the trials of Aidan Hulme,
Robert Hulme, and Noel Maguire. Previous to the three trials, Jim
McCormack and John-Paul Hannan had pled guilty to conspiracy (to cause explosions) charges.
All five have strongly protested the innocence of the Hulme brothers
and Noel Maguire.
Aidan Hulme, Robert Hulme, and Noel Maguire will be sentenced tomorrow
morning. It is expected that Jim McCormack and John-Paul Hannan will
be sentenced later this week.
The Guilty pleas were returned after prolonged delays which saw an
11th-hour suspension of a jury member; a highly unusual development in
this trial. Evidence used against the three included a WAP phone text
message and CCTV tapes which the prosecution admitted were “poor
quality” and impossible to make identities from. An attempt was also
made to lodge the possession of Toby Handen’s “Bandit Country” as
evidence against one of the accused.
Please send cards to the Belmarsh Five at the addresses below.
Go raibh maith agat;
- IFC POW Dept.
The Irish Freedom Committee®
http://www.irishfreedomcommittee.net
************************************************
PLEASE SEND CARDS TO THE “BELMARSH FIVE”:
- Aidan Hulme
- Robert Hulme
- Noel Maguire
- Jim McCormack
- John-Paul Hannan
Belmarsh Prison Western Way, Thamesmead, London SE8-OEB, England
************************************************
RIFA is MI5.
Long live the Socialist Republic of Ireland!