30 years jail for bomb plot trio

Three members of the Real IRA were today beginning 30-year jail terms 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 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 grim-faced defendants dressed in casual clothing, looked up and 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.

Woolwich Crown Court heard how they presented a shopping list of guns, grenades, missiles and explosives to agents they believed to be from the Iraqi Government.

They also sought funding for the renegade republican group 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 trio were arrested in the small spa town of Piest’any 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.

Today their barristers urged the judge to take into account their pleas, which were ‘‘unprecedented’’ for Irish republicans facing trial in the UK.

The defence also argued the three were not necessarily central to the Real IRA’s operations and that in any case it was ‘‘difficult if not impossible’’ in the small coastal village in Co Louth where they are all from to avoid pressure to work for the organisation.

But rejecting their arguments, Mr Justice Astill said: ‘‘It might be that there were pressures upon you coming from the accident of where you lived and loyalty to those you know.

‘‘However each of you took a decision to assist in obtaining the means to kill and to maim.

‘‘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 added: ‘‘All of you were trusted by the Real IRA to carry out a mission that was crucial to the Real IRA’s future terrorist activities.

‘‘It was a mark of your positions and responsibilities and trust within the Real IRA that you were at or very close to the heart of the organisation.’’

Referring to the 1998 atrocity in Omagh, the judge continued: ‘‘Twenty-nine people - innocent people, young and old - were killed and many more injured - more than 200.

‘‘That’s the scale of human suffering to be indicated once you had armed yourself with the explosives and weapons you were asking for.’’

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, each of the three men was sentenced to 12 years for each of several offences under the Terrorism Act, but these will run concurrently.