8952752CNSLDN GBTI TELEX PLUSREF 100132 07 O

THE EVIDENCE OF A SUPERGRASS WAS REJECTED BY AN OLD BAILEY

JURY YESTERDAY (TUES) WHEN IT ACQUITTED AN ALLEGED IRA BOMBER, WHO

HAS SPENT 16 MONTHS IN PRISON AWAITING TRIAL.

SCHOOLTEACHER THOMAS MAGUIRE, 27, WHO DENIED PLOTTING WITH

BRIGHTON BOMBER PATRICK MAGEE TO EXPLODE A CAR BOMB OUTSIDE A

SOLDIERS PUB AT BLACKPOOL, SIGHED WITH RELIEF AT THE JURY’S VERDICT.

MAGUIRE, WHO LEFT THE COURT SURROUNDED BY A GROUP OF

JUBLILANT FRIENDS AND RELATIVES SAID: ‘I WAS SET UP BY THE LANCASHIRE

SPECIAL BRANCH AND MY STEPFATHER.

I WAS INNOCENT RIGHT FROM THE

START.

IT WAS A GREAT INJUSTICE.

I HOPE THIS IS A NAIL IN THE COFFIN

FOR SUPERGRASSES.

‘

THE MAN WHO ACCUSED HIM WAS RAYMOND O’CONNOR, 50, WHO WAS

ONCE THE LOVER OF MAGUIRE’S MOTHER, MURIEL.

.

O’CONNOR WAS ALSO THE

FATHER OF A CHILD BORN TO MRS MAGUIRE.

IN ALL SHE HAS SEVEN

CHILDREN.

O’CONNOR – CALLED A PETTY CRIMINAL AND A LIAR BY THE

PROSECUTION – TOLD THE JURY HE HAD COME FORWARD ‘BECAUSE I COULD NOT

BEAR ANY LONGER WHAT WAS GOING ON.

‘

BUT MAGUIRE’S MOTHER SAID OUTSIDE THE OLD BAILEY YESTERDAY

(TUES) ‘I FEEL VERY BITTER TOWARDS O’CONNOR.

THERE ARE NO WORDS

STRONG ENOUGH TO DESCRIBE HOW I FEEL.

MRS MAGUIRE ADDED THAT SHE FELT O’CONNOR HAD ALSO LET HER

DOWN IN OTHER WAYS.

‘HIS MOTIVE IN ACCUSING MY SON WAS JUST MONEY.

HE RATHER

FANCIED HIMSELF AS A J.

R.

‘ SHE SAID SCORNFULLY.

.

,, SHE HOPED THAT HER SON WOULD RESUME HIS CAREER AS A TEACHER

IN IRELAND.

RIGHT FROM THE START OF THE TRIAL ON SEPT 16 MR ROY AMLOT,

PROSTG.

WARNED THE JURY TO BE VERY WARY OF EVERYTHING THAT O’CONNOR.

TOLD THEM.

‘HE MUST BE TREATED AS AN ACCOMPLICE BECAUSE OF HIS

PARTICIPATION IN THE PLOT FOR ALMOST A YEAR BEFORE HE WENT TO THE

POLICE,’ SAID COUNSEL

O’CONNOR AGREED THAT HE HAD BEEN INVOLVED BUT LATER DECIDED

TO SPILL THE BEANS ABOUT THE BOMB PLOT.

HE REVEALED THAT 35 YEAR OLD MAGEE, WHO HAS BEEN GIVEN

EIGHT LIFE SENTENCES FOR MURDER, WITH A MINIMUM RECOMMENDATION OF 35

YEARS, WAS TO PLANT A CAR BOMB IN BLACKPOOL.

THE TARGET WAS THE EAGLE AND CHILD INN WHICH IS THE REGULAR

HAUNT OF SOLDIERS FROM THE LIGHT INFANTRY’S SECOND BATTALION, WHICH

HAS CLOSE CONNECTIONS WITH NORTHERN IRELAND.

IF THE PLOT HAD NOT BEEN UNCOVERED, DEVASTION AND DEATH

WOULD ALMOST CERTAINLY HAVE FOLLOWED, SAID MR AMLOT.

MORE LATER

MMMM

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ADD SUPERGRASS 1

O’CONNOR, NOW UNDER STRICT SECURITY GUARD, GOES AWAY FROM

THE OLD BAILEY KNOWING THAT IRA TERRORISTS HAVE PUT A PRICE ON HIS

HEAD FOR INFORMING ON MAGEE’S BOMB GANG.

AND NOW THAT MAGUIRE’S TRIAL IS OVER, IT HAS BEEN REVEALED

THAT THE BOMB OUTRAGE AT BRIGHTON COULD HAVE BEEN AVERTED.

MAGEE COULD HAVE BEEN ARRESTED MONTHS BEFORE THE TORY PARTY

WAS SO NEARLY WIPED OUT AT ITS 1984 CONFERENCE HOTEL.

THE HEAD OF LANCS.

CID, DET.

CHIEF SUPER NORMAN FINNERTY

DISCLOSED THAT PICTURES OF MAGEE AND PATRICK ‘THE POPE’

MURRAY, ANOTHER TERRORIST NOW ON THE RUN, WERE SENT TO SCOTLAND YARD

MONTHS BEFORE THE BRIGHTON BOMB EXPLODED.

THOSE PHOTOGRAPHS HAD BEEN OBTAINED AS A DIRECT RESULT OF

O’CONNOR’S INFORMATION.

A SURVEILLANCE TEAM WAS SET UP IN LANCS.

TO WATCH THE GANG MAKING ITS PREPARATIONS FOR THE BOMBING OF THE

SOLDIERS PUB.

THROUGHOUT THAT PERIOD OF SURVEILLANCE, LANCS.

POLICE HAD

THE OPPORTUNITY TO ARREST THE MEN THEY WERE WATCHING.

BUT AT THAT

STAGE THE IDENTITIES OF MAGEE AND MURRAY WERE UNKNOWN TO THEM.

IT WAS ONLY AFTER ANOTHER SET OF THE PHOTOS WAS SENT TO

SCOTLAND YARD THAT LANCS.

POLICE LEARNED WHO THEY WERE WATCHING.

BUT

THE INFORMATION CAME 15 MINUTES TOO LATE.

BY THAT TIME MURRAY AND MAGEE KNEW POLICE WERE ON THEIR

TRAIL.

THEY ESCAPED AFTER A HIGH SPEED CAR CHASE FROM BLACKPOOL TO

PRESTON.

HEAVY TRAFFIC ALLOWED THE TERRORISTS TO GET TO THE

RAILWAY STATION JUST AHEAD OF THEIR PURSUERS.

POLICE FOUND THE CORTINA CAR WITH ITS ENGINE STILL RUNNING,

ITS DOORS OPEN AND THE WINDSCREEN WIPERS WORKING.

BUT THE

PASSENGERS WERE NOWHERE TO BE SEEN.

MINUTES LATER THEY WERE TOLD THAT THE MEN THEY WERE CHASING

WERE WANTED IRA TERRORISTS.

BY SLIPPING THROUGH THAT POLICE NET MAGEE WAS ABLE TO CARRY

OUT THE FIRST PART OF HIS PLAN TO CREATE CARNAGE AND DISTRUCTION

THROUGHOUT BRITAIN.

MORE

MMMM

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REF 200427 07 OCT 17:59

FROM
8951278BAILEY G

REF 19019969

FROM JOE WOOD, OLD BAILEY,

ADD SUPERGRASS 2

MAGUIRE, OF DUBLIN AND MILBOURNE ST.

, BLACKPOOL, LANCS.

, HAD

BEEN DESCRIBED BY THE PROSECUTION AS A ‘SORT OF GO BETWEEN’ IN THE

BOMB PLOT.

BUT HE HAD STRENUOUSLY DENIED ANY INVOLVEMENT.

HE TOLD POLICE THAT IT WAS RIDICULOUS TO SUGGEST THAT HE WAS

AN IRA MEMBER OR EVEN INVOLVED WITH SINN FEIN.

MAGUIRE WAS EDUCATED AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN, WHERE HE

OBTAINED A BA DEGREE.

HE LATER WAS ALSO AWARDED A HIGHER DIPLOMA IN

EDUCATION.

HE HAD MAINTAINED TO POLICE THAT IN HIS STUDENT DAYS HE TOOK

A SYMPATHETIC ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE PRISONERS ON HUNGER STRIKE IN

NORTHERN IRELAND.

HE SAID THAT THERE WAS A ‘WAVE OF SADNESS’ SWEEPING IRELAND

AT THAT TIME.

HIS CONCERN WAS A HUMANITARIAN ONE AND HE HAD CERTAINLY

NOT BEEN ANTI BRITISH.

MAGUIRE DESCRIBED HIMSELF AS ‘ONLOOKER’ ALTHOUGH HE HAD ACTED

AS A PICKET AT A FACTORY GATE DURING THE TROUBLES IN IRELAND.

ENDS

MMMM

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