Device on bus ‘had potential for great destruction’

The Special Criminal Court has heard evidence of a incendiary bomb on a Dublin-bound passenger bus and bomb threats made during the state visit of Queen Elizabeth five years ago.

This was during the sentence hearing yesterday of Donal Billings, aged 66, with an address at St Bridget’s Court, Drumlish, Co Longford, found guilty last month by the three-judge court of the unlawful possession of an explosive substance at Longford railway station car park on May 16, 2011.

He was further found guilty of four offences under the Criminal Law Act of 1976 of knowingly making false reports tending to show that an offence had been committed.