A leading dissident republican duped by an MI5 agent posing as an arms dealer was found guilty today of trying to smuggle a huge cache of weapons and explosives into the North.

A police team which is considering over 3,000 Northern Ireland conflict deaths should cost much less than public inquiries into four controversial killings, Sir Hugh Orde said tonight.

Police in the North tonight charged a second man in connection with a bomb parts find in Lurgan, County Armagh, earlier this week.

A solicitor has been found dead at his home in the North.

Murdered journalist Martin O’Hagan was threatened by a well-known Loyalist less than a week before his death, it has been disclosed.